Kingdom Hearts: Destiny's Embrace
by The Pyromancer
Summary: As Sora, Kairi and Riku prepare to travel to new Worlds their own gets swallowed up by the Heartless. Separated, Kairi seeks to find her friends. Her destiny as the bearer of the Keyblade leads the Darkness straight to her but she's not alone in the fight. With support from old and new friends she'll embark on an epic journey and carve a new destiny. A journey to Kingdom Hearts.
1. Destiny Islands

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

Please read and review, your feedback helps me to write better stories.

 **Kingdom Hearts: Destiny's Embrace**

* * *

 _Much of my life has been dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge._

 _That knowledge has guarded this world well. Not a soul doubts that._

 _I am blessed with people's smiles and respect. But though I am called a sage, there are things I do not understand._

 _I believe darkness sleeps in every heart, no matter how pure. Given the chance, the smallest drop can spread and swallow the heart. I have witnessed it many times._

 _Darkness...Darkness of the heart. How is it born?_

 _How does it come to affect us so?_

 _As ruler of this world, I must find the answers. I must find them before the world is lost to those taken by the darkness._

 _-Ansem's Report 1_

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Destiny Island**

"You know, Riku's changed," said Kairi, just staring out into the ocean, the setting sun lighting everything with an array of bright colors.

"What do you mean?" asked Sora, sitting next to her and also staring off into the distance.

"Well…" said Kairi, suddenly unsure of how to proceed. She'd been thinking about this for a while but she didn't know exactly how to phrase it, it was really just a feeling she had. She'd been hoping that Sora would have noticed too since he was Riku's best friend. "Hmmmm….."

"You okay?" asked Sora.

Kairi stayed silent for a moment as she tried to gather her thoughts. On a whim she turned to Sora, the words just tumbling out of her mouth. "Sora! Let's take the raft and go! Just the two of us!"

As soon as she said the words she regretted them, feeling embarrassed by the shock that Sora showed when he finally turned to face her. "Huh?"

Kairi forced herself to laugh, playing the whole thing off as a joke. "Haha, just kidding!"

"What's gotten into you?" laughed Sora, amused. He replied playfully, "You're the one that's changed Kairi."

Kairi was silent for a moment as she thought about that. "Maybe…" She stared out into the ocean and felt her thoughts from the past few days just come tumbling out. "You know…I was a little afraid at first, but now I'm ready. No matter where I go or what I see I know I can always come back here. Right?"

"Yeah, of course!"

"That's good," replied Kairi wistfully, glad that she had Sora around to comfort the worries she'd been harboring the closer their raft got to completion. "Sora, don't ever change."

"Huh?" asked Sora, seeming confused by her actions.

Kairi stood up on the pier, still looking out at the ocean instead of her companion. "I just can't wait. Once we set sail, it'll be great…"

* * *

" _You're the one that's changed Kairi."_ Sora's words echoed in her mind.

Kairi lay in bed just looking up at the ceiling, her mind still racing from the events of the day. They'd finally finished the raft. It had taken a long time, but now it was complete. Tomorrow, tomorrow was finally the day… Riku had been talking about leaving the island with increasing fervor as the days passed and she'd felt herself getting caught up in the same feelings.

Unlike Riku and Sora she'd once lived somewhere else besides the Island, though her memories of her former home were vague. When she tried to think about her home she couldn't even remember a name, just images. Her grandmother telling her a story in a library, gardens full of flowers, a kind young woman with bright blue hair and darkness…darkness engulfing everything. Her first full memories were of being on the island, her grandmother convincing the Mayor to allow her to stay at her house and then passing away shortly after. Kairi had been sad at first, but soon she'd made friends with Sora, Riku, Selphie and the others and had been too busy enjoying each day to feel sad.

And now, they were finally about to leave. Kairi knew she couldn't tell the Mayor because the woman would try to stop her, but she did consider writing a note. It would be better than saying nothing and she could apologize for leaving and thank her for all the years she'd taken care of her. She wasn't an unkind woman but Kairi needed to go on an adventure, especially an adventure with Sora…

Kairi heard a loud boom outside and sat up in bed. Looking out of her window she saw the island that they played on during the day and saw that a large storm cloud had formed above it, lightning flashing in the sky.

"The raft!" exclaimed Kairi, worried about what the sudden storm could do to the raft. All that work, their one chance at freedom, it could be destroyed in an instance. She quickly pulled on her shoes and went into her closet. Inside she found the rope that she'd prepared for moments like this, where she'd need to sneak out without alerting anyone downstairs. She hesitated slightly as she smelled the aroma of fish stew from downstairs and heard the slight noise of the Mayor singing as she cooked. Kairi shook her head to dispel her doubts, opened the window and lowered the rope. Before she climbed down she remembered something and went over to her night stand. On it rested the charm she'd made out of thassalla shells, a wayfinder like the kind made by sailors to help bring good fortune on their journeys and to guide them home. She picked up the wayfinder and after looking at it for a moment, put it away into her pocket. She returned to the window and started to climb out of it.

Once on the ground Kairi ran as stealthily to her small personal boat as she could manage and untied it from the dock. Pushing off she rowed as quickly as she could out to the island, the sea shuddering under the storm. It was only once she was at the island and tied up that she really thought about the strange sudden storm. She realized that there was a lack of rain like would be expected. Looking up she was surprised to see dark clouds swirling around a pulsating black and red orb. Climbing onto the pier she saw that Riku and Sora's boats were already there, probably to also check on the raft. She saw two figures standing in the distance below the Paopu tree, and she thought that they were probably Sora and Riku.

Kairi ran across the beach to her friends, ignoring the ever darkening shadows around her. She ran across the plank connecting the Paopu tree to the rest of the island and stopped in shock at what she saw. She saw Riku, looking right at her, his hand extended to Sora, who had his back to her. This wouldn't have been too strange to see except that the ground all around them had been covered in shadows and the shadows were reaching up and around the two boys to drag them down. Riku was calm while this happened but Sora was flailing back and forth, struggling as the dark tendrils tried to grab hold of him.

"Sora!" yelled Kairi, stopping short just of the shadows.

"You should join us Kairi," said Riku calmly. "We never needed the raft after all, we can get to other worlds just like this!"

"Kairi?" exclaimed Sora, looking over his shoulder at her.

"What are you doing Riku?" asked Kairi, panic filling her.

"Leaving, like we always wanted to. You two just need to take my hand and we can all go together!"

The darkness surged at that moment and tendrils wrapped completely around Riku and dragged him down into themselves and out of sight. They tried to do the same for Sora but he struggled and managed to turn around, falling onto his knees in the process.

"Kairi!" yelled Sora, stretching out his hand for help.

"Sora!" yelled Kairi, forgetting her fear and running out onto the shadows, small tendrils grabbing at her feet. She ran over to Sora and grabbed his hand, trying to pull him up and the shadows wrapped tighter around him. As she grabbed his hand, light surrounded their hands and Kairi felt as if something warm had just entered her heart. "You won't take him!"

Sadly the shadows didn't agree with her as Sora was yanked downwards into the ground and she was flung forwards into the thick, reaching tendrils. They wrapped around her back and pulled her down into the shadows but she could only wonder at how curiously empty her hand felt now that Sora wasn't holding it anymore. She tried to struggle but the shadows didn't budge an inch. "Let me go and give me back Sora!"

As it looked like she was about to be swallowed by the darkness light poured out of her and collected in her hand. The light shot out and dispelled the darkness and Kairi was left lying on the ground below the Paopu tree, a strange object now in her hand. She stood up slowly and studied it. It looked vaguely like a giant key. It had a circular shaft of some silver metal that ended in the teeth of the key, also of the same strange metal. The appearance differed from a key at the butt end which instead resembled a very fancy sword with a guard that formed a square with rounded edges and was made from gold colored metal. From the end was a chain that ended with a small charm with two small circles attached to a larger one. Kairi wasn't sure of what to make of it or what it was, but for some reason it felt right in her hand.

A sudden crack of thunder drew her attention and Kairi was terrified to look up and see as large chunks of the island were being drawn straight into the enlarging black-red orb in the sky. She felt the ground below her start to shake and heard the breaking of rock and wood. She barely had time to jump unceremoniously onto the beach as the ground below her was lifted into the air and sucked into the orb.

"Ow…" muttered Kairi, standing up shakily, her strange new possession still gripped tightly in her hand. "What's going on?"

Around her the shadows started to pool once more and she felt goosebumps run down her arms. She gripped the key tightly in both hands as the shadows stood up, forming into 2 foot tall bug things made of pure shadow except for their large glowing yellow eyes. One of the shadows crouched and then jumped at her suddenly. Kairi let out a yell and swung the key, hitting the shadow in midair. The key cut the shadow in half, the pieces landing on the ground and disintegrating into dark smoke.

As Kairi marveled at what she'd done the other shadows started to slowly close in on her. She swung the key again at the nearest one but it just leapt backwards, dodging her attack before continuing to press in on her. She swung with increasing desperation, completely inexperienced with fighting. She'd watched Sora and Riku spar with wooden swords but she'd never joined them. Now she wished she had, they'd know what to do in a situation like this…

The shadows were closing tighter around her every second and all around them chunks of the island were being ripped apart and sucked into the orb. She heard the sound of rushing liquid and was surprised to see the oceans being completely drained as they swirled into a vortex that culminated in being sucked into the orb and disappearing. She was so surprised that she let off on her wild flailing for a moment. That's when the shadows decided to pounce. Kairi swung the key at one of the shadows before it could get to her. The key slashed straight through the shadow, destroying it.

Sadly, all the others were on her in the next instant, clinging and clawing at her. Kairi tried to hold up her hands to defend herself, hoping to get the key between her and the shadows. She could feel them tearing at her, scratching and trying to kill her. Between flashes of darkness she saw some of the shadows fall into the ground, turning into pools of darkness. The darkness pooled underneath her and she started to sink into the darkness.

Panic filled Kairi and her heart started to sink. She had no way to get out of this. She couldn't fight and she had no one to protect or rescue her. Sora and Riku were gone and there was almost no way anyone could get through the vortex to help her. It was a dream. It had to be a dream. Just because it felt so real and she didn't remember falling asleep meant nothing. Soon, she'd be sucked into the darkness and wake up in her bed, having passed out right before dinner and being chided by the Mayor for ignoring her call to eat again.

Suddenly, as Kairi's sight was filled with darkness and she felt the breath being sucked out of her, she heard words in her mind, soundless but with the air of encouragement. _"Don't give up. Things may look bleak now but even in the midst of darkness, the light will shine through. Don't be afraid, you aren't alone on this journey. You may not be the key, but that doesn't make your light any less important or powerful. You'll just need to believe…"_ And as the last words terminated through her mind, Kairi felt a warm light build up inside of her, protecting her as she passed out, her vision going truly dark.


	2. Traverse Town

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts

Please read and review, your feedback helps me to write better stories.

* * *

 _It is my duty to expose what this darkness really is. I shall conduct the following experiments:_

 _-Extract the darkness from a person's heart._

 _-Cultivate darkness in a pure heart._

 _-Both suppress and amplify the darkness within._

 _The experiments caused the test subject's heart to collapse, including those of the most stalwart. How fragile our hearts are! My treatment produced no signs of recovery. I confined those who had completely lost their hearts beneath the castle._

 _Sometime later, I went below and was greeted by the strangest sight. Creatures that seemed born of darkness…What are they? Are they truly sentient beings? Could they be the shadows of those who lost their hearts in my experiments?_

 _-Ansem's Report 2_

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Traverse Town**

" _You're just as lazy as he is," said Riku with a playful smirk._

 _Kairi had the good grace to at least act slightly embarrassed at being called out. "So, you noticed," she replied with a laugh._

" _Yes, I did," said Riku. "But now, you need to get up, there's so much to do and so little time to do it._

 _Kairi frowned, suddenly feeling like something was different. "You mean the raft?"_

" _The raft isn't important," replied Riku. "But what is important is that you wake up."_

" _I don't understand…" replied Kairi._

Suddenly Riku and the island framing him disappeared, replaced instead with darkness. Kairi was standing, once again alone in cold darkness. She looked around for Sora or Riku but instead saw images of two worlds. One was Destiny Islands, her home, being ripped apart once more by the darkness, chunks of her beautiful islands flying into the glowing black-red orb until nothing was left. Next to it was beautiful castle surrounded by rainbow fields of flowers. Suddenly everything darkened as a shadow slowly crept over the world, starting from the castle and emanating outwards. The flowers wilted mere moments after the shadows covered them and the castle deteriorated, losing its beauty and instead becoming a foreboding fortress on a dead world.

Kairi felt terror filling her, despair at what she couldn't understand. Nothing made sense except the feeling in her chest that told her nothing would ever be the same again. She was alone and without a home, drifting in the infinite void of darkness until it finally all ended…

"Woof!" came the bark, slicing through the darkness. Suddenly Kairi felt something hot and wet running over her face and she was catapulted out of the darkness. She opened her eyes and saw her vision filled with a large yellow dog panting over her, eyeing her with a sort of worry and care. The dog moved closer to her, whining slightly and she reached out and wrapped her arms around it. The dog didn't fight her embrace as she basked in the warmth and comfort of another living being. Her dream and last moments on Destiny Islands filling her mind she couldn't help it as she cried directly into the dog's fur, letting out her emotions in a way she hadn't for a long time.

Kairi didn't know how long she cried but when she was done she let go of the dog, allowing it to back up slightly to give her space. She cleared away the last of the snot and tears from her face, wiping them on the sleeve of her shirt and looked closer at the dog.

She saw a name tag which she read aloud. "Pluto?" she asked, unfamiliar with the name.

She realized she was unfamiliar with the breed of dog; the size and color unusual to the breeds she was used to seeing in books and occasionally around town. The dog, Pluto, seemed to respond to the name, wagging its thin black tail happily, panting in excitement.

Pluto turned around and walked a few steps away, looking back over its shoulder to make sure she was following. Kairi stood up from where she'd been sitting on cold stone and looked around. She was in an alley, lit only by a single flickering bulb on a lamp post right above her and the stars that glittered brightly in the night sky. Discarded boxes and trash filled the alley, blocking out a large section of the stone that were used to pave the road. Kairi followed after Pluto, the dog starting to pad quickly down the alley again. They turned around a corner and Kairi was greeted with a riot of color as she got her first real look at where she was.

"This isn't the Islands," muttered Kairi as she tried to take in the strings of lights, tall lamp posts and neon signs which covered everything in their reach in bright colored light. As Kairi and Pluto walked down the alley towards the lights she started to hear chatter and laughter, sounds coming from a pub which formed the wall of the alley she was in. She was surprised to see how much stone was used to build everything but also how almost nothing in the town seemed to use straight lines, instead standing at angles or arching at points that should have been unsafe or looked crazy. Everything looked like it had been designed, created or placed haphazardly.

Pluto and Kairi walked out of the Alley into what looked like a plaza. A staircase to her right led off to an upper level of the plaza while to her left was the pub, a woman walking outside to have a smoke, the sounds of laughter and merriment coming through the door as it was opened, and muffled as it closed once again. The other occupant of the empty plaza was a floating bear thing with white fur and a red balloon thing coming out of its head that was currently tinkering with something in its hands, too absorbed to pay attention to what was around it. Now that she had a better view she saw that a large wall surrounded and separated the plaza from what had to be other sections of the town. She saw two large doors in the wall, one with a sign that said "Third District" while the other had a sign that read "Port".

"How do you even know that the Keybearer will be around here?" asked a voice, a young girl by the sound of things. Kairi turned around, looking up the stairs and saw a girl with short black hair wearing one of the most absurd outfit's Kairi had seen. She had a headband wrapped around her head, a yellow scarf wrapped around her neck. She had on a short green tank top that left her stomach exposed and very short yellow pants with a blue belt that Kairi was pretty sure did nothing to actually hold up her pants. She had on white leggings that covered all but her upper thighs, and thick brown leather boots. Her hands were covered by thick brown leather gloves that had had the fingers cut off and her arms were covered in fishnet up to the shoulders.

"Aerith said she would be, and I trust her intuition," said the girl's companion, a brown haired man with a scar running across his face from above his right eye, across the bridge of his nose to below his left eye. He was almost twice her size and was dressed just as extravagantly. He had a short sleeve black leather jacket with white fur across the top part of it and a red symbol on the sleeve. A silver necklace hung around his neck and rested against a plain white shirt that stuck out against everything else. He was wearing long black pants that had zippers running down the sides, buckles seemingly placed at random intervals above them. Even his black leather shows had zippers running from the toes up through the center of them. His strange look was completed with two studded red leather belts running across his waist and three red leather straps strapped over one of his forearms. In his black gloved hands rested a large sword that Kairi could have sworn looked to have a revolver built into it. "Plus, the Heartless have suddenly picked up their activity in town, they must be searching for him."

"How do we know it's a boy?" asked the girl, putting her hands up lazily behind her head.

"Aerith said in her vision a while ago she saw a young boy wielding the Keyblade," replied the man. "It's all we have to work on, so it'll have to do."

"I guess," said the girl as they walked down the stairs towards Kairi and Pluto. "Why's she not here with us looking then?"

"She said she saw some new players to the game and went to pick them up before they encountered the Heartless unprepared."

"We really don't know anything, do we?" asked the girl. She finally caught sight of Kairi and Pluto who were just standing in the middle of the plaza, looking around in wonder at everything. Caught looking at the two weirdly dressed strangers Kairi tried to look away to something, to pretend as if she hadn't been staring or listening in. She was surprised when with a poof of smoke the black haired girl appeared next to her in an instant, moving and hugging Pluto. "Ah! What a cute dog!"

"Hey, no scaring people now Yuffie," chided the man, a smirk on his face as he walked towards them.

"Stop being so boring Squall," said the girl.

The brown haired man just scowled at her. "I told you, my name is Leon now."

"Sure, whatever you say "Leon"," dismissed the girl. She smiled broadly as she pet Pluto, running a hand through his fur. "What's his name?"

It took Kairi a second to realize that the question had been directed at her. "I-uh…his name is Pluto."

"That's a good name," complimented Leon, stopping to stand next to Kairi, his large sword held casually in one hand as if it weighed nothing. "I haven't seen you two before, are you new to Traverse Town?"

"I don't know," said Kairi, still slightly overwhelmed by everything and her words coming tumbling out. "I mean, I live on Destiny Islands and then I just woke up and found myself here, with Pluto, who isn't my dog, but woke me up, and well…I guess now I'm here."

"Was it the Heartless?" asked Yuffie. Her hand got to the spot on Pluto's fur that Kairi had cried into and she pulled it away quickly, a look of disgust on her face as she tried to shake aware the tears and mucus.

"Sorry, that was me," replied Kairi, feeling embarrassed. Then she registered Yuffie's question. "What's a "Heartless"?"

"They're the monsters born from the darkness in people's hearts," replied Leon. "They generally look like shadows with yellow eyes, but they can also take a large variety of shapes and forms. They've been going around destroying more and more worlds lately, I bet yours was one of them."

"Leon!" chided Yuffie quickly. Leon at least had the decency to realize his mistake in what he'd said and to look apologetic for it.

Kairi wasn't aware of either of their reactions though as the words sunk in. "Destroyed…" she muttered. "The Islands…gone…Riku…Sora…"

"Uh…I'm sure that at least some of them made it out alive!" said Leon, trying to comfort her and failing. "And if they did, they're sure to end up here, most do! Although I guess some of them could have been scattered to other worlds…"

"Other worlds?" asked Kairi, latching onto the words and looking up at Leon, her eyes slightly misty. "There a really are other worlds? Is that what this world is?"

"Yes, this is a different world than the one you're from," said Leon. He looked up and pointed. Kairi followed his gesture and saw hundreds if not thousands of stars twinkling brightly in the sky. "Each one of those stars is another world, some similar to what you might know and others immensely different. This world, Traverse town, is the place that is made from and collects the spare parts and people from worlds that are destroyed by the Heartless. And it's relatively safe as well."

"And hey!" said Yuffie, jumping in before Leon could say something callous again. "This is the perfect place to start searching for your friends and we can help!"

"I can find Sora and Riku…?" muttered Kairi, the words reaching through the fog in her mind. She felt a warmth building up inside of her, encouraging her onward. She blinked away the tears and held up her right hand, concentrating on memories of the Islands and her friends. Light started to collect in her hand and the key from the island suddenly appeared in her hand, causing Leon and Yuffie to stare in surprise.

"She's who we've been searching for…" muttered Leon, recovering faster than his companion. "She's the Keybearer?"

"I guess it does look vaguely like a giant key," commented Yuffie. "I thought you said the Keybearer was a boy?"

"That's what Aerith told me," said Leon, shaking his head. "Something seems wrong here. We need to find her quickly and figure out what's going on. Uh, girl, could you come with us quickly so that we can check on something and then help you find your friends?"

"What's your name anyways?" asked Yuffie. "I'm Ninja Master Yuffie! And this sour guy here is Leon."

"I'm Kairi," replied Kairi. She held up the key for her new companions to look at. "Uh, do you happen to know what this is?"

"You don't know what that is?" asked Leon, sounding surprised. "Oh, this isn't good…"

"That's the Keyblade," supplied Yuffie. "It's got a lot of strange magical powers and abilities. Plus I've been told it makes a pretty good sword too."

"The Keyblade…" muttered Kairi, memories bubbling just below the surface of recognition. "Why do I have it?"

"It's because you're the Keybearer," said Leon confidently. "Still, something seems wrong about all of this…We really need to find Aerith."

"Aerith is a friend of ours," explained Yuffie. "Long brown hair, a pink outfit and a piercing stare. She's nice, you'll probably like her. Although she can be a bit spacey at times…"

"Let's get moving then," said Leon, turning around and walking back up the stairs. Yuffie just gave Kairi a shrug and a long suffering look and followed after Leon. Pluto stood next to Kairi, looking up curiously at her, his tail wagging slowly back and forth. Kairi put her free hand on his head and started to scratch behind his ears, feeling overwhelmed by events that didn't seem to be slowing down.

"Wait!" yelled Kairi, recapturing Leon and Yuffie's attention. "Will you really help me find my friends?"

Leon flashed her a confident smile. "We will, I promise."

With that he turned around and started to walk away. Without hesitation Kairi followed after, Pluto right on her heels. At the top of the stairs was a shop that advertised itself as "Cid's accessories and Gummi". A small sign below advertised the opening of a second level for "Item Synthesis", whatever that was.

The door opened and a scowling old man with blonde hair walked out, a toothpick held between his teeth. He turned to look at them and removed the toothpick. "You off to somewhere Leon?" asked the man. "Not even going to stop to say hello?"

"Sorry Cid, we're in a hurry," apologized Leon. "We might have finally found the Keybearer and need to meet up with Aerith again quickly."

Cid looked past Leon at Kairi and studied her intensely for a moment. "So, is this little girl the Keybearer you guys have been looking for?"

"It's likely," said Yuffie cheerily. Kairi wondered if anything could actually damper her spirits.

"Good luck then," said Cid in an off handed fashion. "If any of you need anything to help out, work on ships, accessories or just advice, feel free to stop by. Just make sure to call first!"

With that he went back into his ship and closed the door with a bang. Leon and Yuffie had broad, affectionate smiles on their faces.

"As gruff and awkward as usual, ain't he?" Yuffie said, laughing slightly.

"That old man just doesn't want it known he's actually a softy," mused Leon continuing to walk past the shop. "Although I could do without him reprimanding me like he's my father constantly."

"I'd say he sounds more like a mother actually," laughed Yuffie, following after him. "It's how he shows he cares."

Kairi followed after them. "Uh, who was that?"

"Cid," replied Leon. "A shop owner and gummi ship engineer."

"He's the one who saved us and brought us here as children when our world fell to the Heartless," said Yuffie. "I guess he's like a parent to us all."

"Your world was also destroyed?" asked Kairi, realizing only after she asked that the question might be rude.

"Yeah," replied Leon, "but unlike other worlds it wasn't destroyed, just merely taken over by a powerful witch named Maleficent who has gained control of some Heartless."

"I'm sorry," said Kairi sadly.

"Don't be," said Yuffie. "We hardly remember it anyways."

"Speak for yourself," grumbled Leon.

"I always do!" replied Yuffie.

They walked in an awkward silence after that for a few minutes. They passed through a large door that declared they were entering the "Second District". The second district was in the shape of a large box, shops lining the sides of the upper level with stairs leading to a lower level that contained a fountain. As they were walking towards a hotel that took up one side of the box they heard a cry. Kairi looked down into the lower level and saw a man running towards them, his face filled with fright. Behind him clanked a strange monster. It seemed to resemble what Kairi was realizing now were Heartless except that it was wearing a helmet and armor, stood up correctly on two legs and was taller than the shadows she'd fought before. This soldier heartless had a red and black heart emblazed on its chest.

"Leon!" yelled Yuffie, pulling out a throwing star suddenly from what seemed like thin air. Leon lowered his sword from where it rested on his shoulder and they both jumped down to the lower level, rushing to the man's rescue. Sadly they were too late as the soldier jumped into the air and sprang at the man, its hand going straight through his chest. Kairi gasped in horror as the man fell to the ground and his body faded away. As the body faded though it left a glowing pink heart which floated up slightly into the air and then was surrounded by darkness. The coalesced and suddenly a second soldier was standing in the spot the man had been.

"Damn it!" yelled Leon. He swung his sword and killed the newly formed heartless as Yuffie threw a star that pegged the original in the head, destroying it. As the shadows that formed their body were destroyed glowing pink hearts were released and they drifted up into the air, disappearing into nothing. Leon and Yuffie jumped back up to the upper level, landing next to Kairi. Leon was frowning and even Yuffie had lost her bright smile for the moment.

"What just happened?" asked Kairi in disbelief.

"A Heartless," answered Leon. "They feed on the darkness in people's hearts and make more of themselves. That poor man was unfortunate enough to fall victim to one."

"And we were too slow…" muttered Yuffie.

"And this is why we need the Keybearer and Keyblade," said Leon firmly. "Supposedly with that key you can lock the Heartless out of worlds and defeat this darkness for good. And then, just maybe, we can return home…"

Kairi heard a strange sound and saw a dozen soldiers appear in a flash of purple light, surrounding them and cutting off their path back to the First District. Leon and Yuffie reacted quickly, moving to place themselves in front of Kairi.

"This isn't good," said Leon. He held her sword in both hands, facing the soldiers as they danced back and forth in place. He looked over his shoulder at her. "Can you make the jump down to the second level?"

Kairi looked behind her and felt her heart sink at the distance she'd fall, not to mention the distance she'd need to go to not land in the fountain. She shook her head. "I don't think so."

"Then we'll have to do this the hard way," sighed Leon. "Yuffie, give us a distraction and hold them off."

"Got it," said Yuffie. Suddenly a small throwing star appeared between each finger in each of her hands. She threw one handful at the nearest soldier to their left, destroying it. Before it disintegrated she was in midair and throwing the other handful at the soldier in the opposite position, destroying it. Leon fired a ball of fire from his hand, destroying the soldier immediately in front of him before turning around, grabbing Kairi around the waist without informing her beforehand, and jumping off the upper level. Kairi gasped in shock as they flew through the air, landing safely several meters away on the lower level. He lowered her to the ground and released her, causing her to stumble slightly as she tried to regain her balance. Pluto also jumped down, somehow making the jump and landing next to them acting as if they hadn't just been attacked by monsters.

Back up on the upper ledge Yuffie threw two larger stars in either direction, taking out two more soldiers. One of the remaining ones went to swipe at her but the girl back flipped off of the ledge and out of the way, landing gracefully on the lower level. She stuck out her tongue at the soldiers. "Nyaa! Can't catch me!"

"Yuffie!" yelled Leon. He fired a blast of fire from his hand that struck a soldier that had been leaping at Yuffie while she hadn't been paying attention.

"Thanks!" said Yuffie, running over towards them.

"Let's get out of here," said Leon, running across the courtyard and down an alley, his sword at the ready. Kairi followed behind him, running as fast as she could, Pluto jogging steadily next to her. Yuffie threw a few more stars at the remaining soldiers to distract them and followed after, occasionally, keeping the Heartless off of them.

As Kairi turned down the alley she saw four new Heartless appear suddenly. These looked like flying jars, a lid worn like a hat on a shadowy head with beady yellow eyes that rested in a colored body and all four colored a different color. There was a red jar, a blue jar, a yellow jar and a green jar. Leon held up his hand and shot a ball of fire at the new foes.

The red jar flew in front of the blast and absorbed it, the fire disappearing into its body. Flames crackled around it and a ball of fire flew out of it at Leon. He swung his sword and deflected the fire into the wall. Crouching down, Leon then leapt into the air and slashed at the red jar, destroying it. He landed and attempted to hit the others but they flew up into the air and around him to dodge. Electricity crackled around the yellow one but was interrupted when a large shuriken flew through the air and destroyed it, sending a pink heart into the air. Frost formed around the blue jar but Leon leapt up into the air again and slashed it apart before it could do anything. The green jar flew right up to Kairi, startling her. She held her Keyblade up in front of her, unsure of what to do. The jar started to shake back and forth, a green glowing emanating from it. In panic Kairi swung her Keyblade, hitting the jar and destroying it.

The clanking sound of the soldiers approached from behind and Leon gestured them forward. "Come on!" he commanded. They ran down the alley and through a white door. As Yuffie closed the door behind her the shadows rounded the corner and leapt into the air, trying to ram them. Kairi expected to hear a crashing sound as the door broke under their attack but was surprised as nothing happened.

"The owners of this mansion are powerful with wind magic," explained Leon. "We can use this as a path to get to the Third District and maybe to the wizard. The hotel was compromised so Aerith will go there with her guests through the waterway probably."

The door on the opposite side of the room opened and a white head with black spots poked its head in. Kairi saw a large Dalmatian walk into the room a blue collar around their neck. When it got close Kairi saw the collar read "Perdita". Perdita studied Kairi, seeming to be familiar with Leon and Yuffie. Kairi held out a hand tentatively and started to pet Perdita who seemed okay with the touch.

"Such a pretty dog," admired Kairi and she thought Perdita looked like they enjoyed the compliment. "Who is the owner?"

"You're petting her!" said Yuffie cheerfully. Kairi looked in shock at the dog she was petting who looked amused instead of offended by the situation.

"Hello Perdita, we're just stopping by briefly, there's Heartless outside," said Leon casually as if he wasn't talking to a dog. "How's Pongo doing?"

Perdita gave a bark that meant nothing to Kairi but Leon looked satisfied with the response and acted as if he knew what she'd said, which he might actually have. "That's good. Any luck in the search for the puppies?"

Perdita just shook her head sadly beneath Kairi's touch and whined slightly.

"Don't worry!" said Yuffie. "I'm sure they're fine and we'll find them all soon enough!"

"We'll just be leaving through the other side then," said Leon. "Thank you for letting us in."

Kairi waved awkwardly to Perdita as she walked away, confused once more at how different other worlds were apparently. They walked through several empty but well-kept rooms of the mansion and walked out into another alley. There weren't any Heartless around but Leon had his sword in one hand and went first, on guard in case of an attack. Yuffie walked behind Kairi, throwing stars ready in her hand, just in case. Kairi gripped her Keyblade tighter in her hand and rested the other on Pluto who walked by her side, looking around curiously and occasionally sniffing the air. As they walked out of the alley Kairi realized they were in the back area behind the hotel. Leon walked up to a waterway that took up part of the area and put his hand on a brick of the wall. The brick glowed briefly and the grate blocking off the rest of the waterway lifted up, allowing them access.

"In here," said Leon, gesturing. Kairi followed entering the water without hesitation. Pluto splashed in next to her, causing her to giggle slightly as he sprayed her with water. They walked down the waterway, Leon lighting torches with fire from his hand as they walked, allowing them to see where they were going.

"How are you doing that?" asked Kairi. "Creating that fire to light the torches?"

"It's just a simple fire magic," said Leon. "You just concentrate and summon the heat into your hand or weapon, depending on what you find easier to channel through and then release it how you want it. Simple."

"I don't think that was useful to her at all," said Yuffie. "You're not a very good teacher."

"Quiet!" snapped Leon, stopping suddenly.

"Hey! What did I do!" said Yuffie miffed.

"Not you," growled Leon. "I heard something."

"What'd you hear?" said Yuffie softer. "This place is very echo-y so it could have been anything-"

At that moment Kairi heard a clanking noise and turned around quickly to see Yuffie getting side swiped by a large floating armored gauntlet. Yuffie had managed to block the attack though and just flew through the air slightly before landing on her feet. She let loose several throwing stars that were knocked away as a second gauntlet appeared. Then two large boots clanked down the waterway and were followed by a floating chest piece, a circular helmet floating above it. The armor pieces formed up and created a weird parody of an armored knight. On the chest piece was the same heart emblem that Kairi had seen on the soldiers and floating jars.

Leon leapt over Kairi and through the waterway with little effort, swinging his sword at the armor. It blocked with one of the gauntlets but Leon's attack managed to slice into it slightly, leaving a furrow. He landed on the ground in front of Kairi, sword at the ready. "Run away!" yelled Leon to Kairi, looking over his shoulder at her. "We'll deal with this!"

"Are you sure we can?" asked Yuffie, moving to stand next to him, larger throwing stars prepped in her hands.

"No," admitted Leon, "but we can't protect Kairi at the same time. So go!"

"But…," said Kairi, tightening her grip on her Keyblade. She didn't want to leave but she knew Leon was right. She didn't know how to fight, and would probably just be a liability. She was starting to wish she'd spared with Sora or RIku back on the Islands.

A bark from behind her brought her to her senses and she saw Pluto tugging on her shirt, trying to get her to run. She hesitated for another moment and then ran, following Pluto down the waterway, tears in her eyes as she didn't bother to look back. Sounds of yelling and the clashing of metal rang into her ears from back down the tunnel, sounding impossibly loud from the echoes, but still she didn't look back. Her eyes were blurry with tears and the tunnel was dark so she didn't notice the pool of water until she fell into it, tumbling down into its depth's. She felt despair filling her heart again and wondered if she was fated to just keep running away from the darkness and fainting, forever protected by others…And then she passed out once more, the world disappearing around her...


	3. Wonderland

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts

Please read and review, your feedback helps me to write better stories **.**

* * *

 _The shadows that crawl beneath the castle… Are they the people who lost their hearts, or incarnations of darkness? Or something entirely beyond my imagination?_

 _All my knowledge has provided no answer. One thing I am sure of it that they are entirely devoid of emotion. Perhaps further study will unlock the mysteries of the heart. Fortunately, there is no shortage of test samples. They are multiplying underground even as I write this report. They still need a name. Those who lack hearts… I will call them the Heartless._

 _-Ansem's Report 3_

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Wonderland**

Aerith stood in the waterway, waiting for Leon and Yuffie, and feeling more worried by the moment. When the Heartless had appeared as she had been approaching the hotel they had planned to meet at with her two new companions, she'd led them to the secondary meeting spot in the waterway. She'd locked the grate behind them, extinguished the torches behind her and waited, a cold feeling in her chest as she worried. Her two strange new companions paced back and forth in worry, made impatient by the urgency of their mission. One was a large duck who stood on two legs, blue clothes and a magic staff in his hand. He'd been introduced to her as Donald, a skilled wizard. Next to him was Goofy, a tall person who had features that resembled those of a dog, if a dog stood on two legs, wore pants and a vest and had a shield strapped to his back.

They had been directed to find the Keybearer, the same person Aerith was looking for with her friends. She'd had a prediction that they'd be arriving in town and were destined to help the Keybearer, so she'd gone and found them before they encountered any Heartless while unprepared for them. They'd put up a good fight when they'd been attacked by the Heartless but they were still unfamiliar fighting such creatures and completely overwhelmed in numbers. For her part Aerith wasn't very good at fighting beyond a minor knowledge of self-defense techniques, her specialty instead relying on healing and support magic.

So they'd been waiting restlessly for the last several minutes as time ticked on and there was no sign of Leon, Yuffie or the Keybearer. Aerith was considering braving the Heartless infested streets again to find them as the sounds of yelling and clashing metal reached her ears. Donald and Goofy also reacted to the noise, turning to look down the dark waterway.

"Garwsh," said Goofy, rubbing the back of his head with a white gloved hand. "It sounds like someone's fightin' down there."

"It must be more of those annoying Heartless!" exclaimed Donald. Aerith feared that he was right and was glad to hear Goofy speak again.

"Well, should we go help them?" he asked. "It could be your friends, couldn't it?"

"It probably is," replied Aerith, nodding her head in agreement.

"Then what are we waiting for?" asked Donald, brandishing his wand. "Let's go get them!"

Donald and Goofy ran with surprising speed down the dark waterway, ignoring the danger of not being able to see where they were going. Aerith held out her hands and concentrated. Light glowed at the tip of her fingers and then shot out as a bright ball of light that sped down the waterway. The ball illuminated the path as they ran down the waterway. This caused Donald and Goofy to run with even greater speed now that they could see where they were going.

Aerith followed after them, unable to run as fast. As she passed a pool of water she was surprised to see someone floating in the water. It looked to be a young red headed girl but that was impossible since she knew the pool of water wasn't even two feet deep and the girl looked like she was floating deep below the surface. Aerith stopped and reached down, her hand breaking the surface. The image of the girl disappeared and all she could see was the floor of the waterway, shimmering from the light of her rapidly disappearing ball of light. She shook her head and ran after her companions, wondering if that had really been a giant key she'd seen grasped in the girl's hand.

Aerith made it to the battle in time to see Goofy blocking an attack from a large purple gauntlet that had probably been meant to pulverize the tired and panting Yuffie. Leon was knocked hard into a wall as Donald fired several icicles at the giant armor Heartless standing before him. The missiles impacted the armor and sent it staggering back slightly. Aerith held out both hands, one towards Yuffie and the other towards Leon and closed her eyes, concentrating. She felt the magic build up inside of her and released it, green energy flashing around Yuffie and Leon, healing them completely.

She opened her eyes to see Leon leaping at the giant Heartless, his sword wreathed in fire. His blade was blocked by a gauntlet but this time the attack had much more power behind it and cut straight through the gauntlet, destroying it.

"Thunder!" yelled Donald holding his wand up. Bolts of lightning shot out of it and rained down on the Heartless. Several hit the second gauntlet and destroyed that also. Goody took his shield in hand, and started to spin around wildly. He twirled down the waterway and rammed straight into the Heartless's foot, going straight threw it and destabilizing the monster. Yuffie meanwhile had been charging up a coating of light around a shuriken and threw it, the spinning missile bisecting the final leg, causing the torso and head to tumble to the ground. Before it could move or respond the four warriors were on top of it, each sending out another attack that hit simultaneously and destroyed it, releasing a large pink heart that flew back out through the waterway and into the sky.

"Are you all okay?" asked Aerith, walking up to her friends.

"Thanks to you," said Leon with one of his rare smiles. "Thanks for the assist."

"And thank you to you two too!" said Yuffie, looking excitedly at Donald and Goofy. "Are you the two Aerith went to find?"

"Yes, they are," said Aerith. She gestured to each person in turn. "Yuffie, Leon, meet Donald and Goofy."

"Charmed," said Goofy with a slight bow.

Donald instead was looking around. "Weren't they supposed to be with the Keybearer?" he asked. "Were is he?"

"About that…" said Yuffie, rubbing the back of her head.

"The Keybearer is a girl named Kairi, not a boy like we expected," said Leon. He frowned again. "Didn't you see her running down the waterway? When we were attacked we sent her and her dog Pluto down the waterway to safety. You should have seen her. She had red hair and a giant key in her hand."

"She was with Pluto?" asked Goofy. "Big, friendly yellow dog?"

"You know him?" asked Yuffie.

"We brought him with us but he went off somewhere on his own," replied Goofy. "He's the King's dog."

"I think I did see her…," said Aerith. Everyone turned to look at her in surprise.

"Where is she then?" asked Leon.

"I think… I think she's not in this world anymore," replied Aerith.

"She's dead?" asked Yuffie.

"No!" said Aerith quickly. "I think she accidentally stumbled upon a portal to another world and went there. I saw an after image of her in the water of the waterway as we were running here, but I didn't know what to make of it."

"If she was with Pluto, then I'm not surprised," sighed Donald, sounding tired. "That dog can find the weirdest things, portals to other worlds included. I bet he took her with him somewhere on accident."

"Is Pluto evil?" asked Leon, sounding worried.

"No, he's just curious," said Goofy. "The fella probably thought that it'd be interesting to go somewhere else and this Kairi just stumbled into it. He might just even like her company!"

"Then how do we find them?" asked Leon.

"We search every world until we do," said Donald sadly. "If we can't find her then we'll never find the King either since he told us to find and protect the Keybearer."

"Well, we'd better get searching then!" said Goofy cheerily. Aerith wondered if he ever gave in to despair and prayed that he didn't. On their journey, they'd need strong hearts to succeed; that she could feel.

"Good luck," bid Aerith, sincerely hoping they were gifted with some.

* * *

Kairi came to groggily, and opened her eyes, surprised by what she saw. She'd expected Traverse Town to be the weirdest place she'd find, she'd been wrong. This new place was even stranger, a room with furniture that looked to be constructed in strange styles. The room narrowed into a corridor that curved down and to the side, blocking her view of what was down it. Next to her Pluto wagged his thin black tail happily, waiting for her to get up so that they could explore. She did so, slowly, surprised at how good she felt after drowning, or at least she'd thought she'd drowned. In her hand she still gripped the Keyblade, somehow still with her with all she'd gone through. She wondered if it was even possible to get rid of the tenacious seeming key. If she got rid of it, maybe things would go back to normal. If only it could just disappear…

At her thoughts the Keyblade disappeared from her hand in a flash of light. She stared at her empty hand in surprise, wondering about how the blade could do that. She remembered summoning it in Traverse Town and realized that maybe she could do it again. She held out her hand once more and thought about the Keyblade resting in it. In the next moment the Keyblade was in her hand in another flash of light. She swung the weapon back and forth through the air, admiring how light it felt in her hand, much lighter than its size would indicate.

Kairi suddenly remembered Yuffie's words about how the weapon was magical with strange powers and just guessed these were a couple of them. She felt a cold pit in her stomach as she remembered that she'd suddenly left Yuffie and Leon in trouble and prayed that they were okay. She knew she couldn't do anything to help them even if she was still in Traverse Town, and she was pretty sure she definitely wasn't anymore. She stowed away her worry though and decided to figure out where she was, maybe there'd be someone who could return her to Traverse Town to check on Yuffie and Leon. Maybe they could return her to the Island…although she was afraid to ask, worried that it really had been destroyed. Something in her heart told her that it had, and she felt sad thinking about it. Something in her heart also told her that Sora and Riku were okay, off the Islands and probably searching for her. Maybe she'd ask someone for help finding them too…

Pluto barked again and started to trot slowly down the hall, his nose to the ground as he investigated what had to be a whole slew of smells. Kairi started to follow after him but first concentrated on sending the Keyblade away to wherever it was when it wasn't in her hand. It disappeared in another flash of light and she wondered at how it seemed to be getting easier to call and dismiss each time. Before she could follow after Pluto she heard a plopping noise behind her and turned around. A white rabbit walking on two legs and wearing a small red suit ran past her, a large watch in hand.

"Oh! I'm late! I'm late! I'm late!" cried the rabbit, running past her without even seeming to notice her and down the hall. He ran past Pluto, who growled at his coming, but who he also didn't seem to notice. Kairi could hear his panicked cries even as he turned down the hall. "The Queen will have my head, I'm late!"

"What was that?" wondered Kairi aloud. Pluto continued to growl and let out a bark, giving chase after the rabbit. Kairi ran as fast as she could after him, yelling. "Hey! Wait up!"

They ran down the twisting, winding path, this new world seeming to hate straight lines and 90 degree angles. They came to a door that Pluto was stopped at, since it opened inward and he couldn't open it. Kairi walked past him and opened the door, letting the large dog past her. She followed him into the room, shutting it behind her. The new room they were in seemed to be a living room, bookshelves lining the walls but out of her reach, chairs pushed up against the wall. A fireplace sat unlit to the other side of the room. A large table with a single chair rested in the middle of the room, a blue and an orange bottle resting on it. She heard a squeaky little cry and looked down. The white rabbit was tiny now, frantically running through a tiny doorway that was smaller than her hand. The door shut behind him and she walked over, kneeling down and inspecting the doorway.

"How did he get so tiny?" asked Kairi. She was surprised when the golden doorknob on the tiny door looked up at her with incredulous eyes and answered her question.

"Maybe it's you that's too big," said the doorknob, irritated. "Now can I go back to sleeping?"

"Sorry for disturbing you!" apologized Kairi. "But I'm new around here and wondering if I could get advice from somewhere or at least find out where I was. If you're tired though I can leave you to your nap."

"Manners eh?" said the doorknob. "Rare things. You're in Wonderland big missy. I guess if you wanted advice you'd want to ask the Cheshire cat, although first you'd have to find him and then you'd have to figure out what he's saying. You best bet would be to check the forest."

"Thank you," said Kairi, smiling at the doorknob. "How do I get to the forest?"

"Grab the orange bottle on the table and take a drink," said the doorknob. "Give some to your dog too. Do it quickly so that I can let you through and go back to sleep!"

Kairi obeyed, grabbing up the orange bottle, confused at the lack of a label. She smelled it but it didn't have a discernable smell. She went to Pluto and poured some down his throat, causing the dog to whine at her. She then took a sip, putting the bottle back on the table. The drink made her feel weird and the world started to grow and grow around her, soon dwarfing her and Pluto in size. Kairi realized that the room hadn't grown, the drink had just shrunk her!

"Hurry up over here!" yelled the doorknob from across the room, now far away. Kairi ran to the door as fast as she could, Pluto on her heels. She stopped, panting in front of the door. "About time! Now hurry up in and don't bother me again!"

The door swung open and Kairi walked through it with Pluto. She was surprised to see that she was now in a garden, the hedges cut in the shapes of hearts at almost every turn. She walked through the garden and came to a clearing that was guarded by playing cards, weapons with heart shaped points at the end that still looked wickedly effective. The guards let her pass right by them, seeming more preoccupied in watching the events playing out before them.

A large chair was situated at the other end of the clearing, rising far above anything else. In it sat a large woman dressed in a red and black heart themed dress, crown resting on her head and a foul expression on her face. She stared down accusingly at a girl in a frilly blue dress, blonde curls falling past her shoulders. She was standing behind what reminded Kairi of a witness stand she'd seen the on one of the courtroom dramas the Mayor liked to watch. She realized that the whole room was designed like a courtroom, although outside in a garden instead of inside an actual room.

"Alice, as the accused, is hereby sentenced to execution for the heinous crime of attempting to steal my heart!" declared the woman.

"That's no fair!" protested the blonde girl, Alice. "I most certainly haven't done anything of the like and demand I get an actual fair trial, not this farce!"

"How dare you speak to me, the Queen, like that!" roared the Queen. "There will be no trial because I know you did it! Off with her head!"

"Wait!" said Kairi, steeping forward. All eyes turned to her, surprised at the interruption. At the Queen's side, at the bottom of her tall chair she saw the white rabbit from before, fidgeting with his watch and muttering to himself under his breath.

"How dare you!" roared the Queen. "Who is someone as lowly as you to interrupt someone such as me? Speak!"

Kairi hesitated momentarily, surprised by the intenseness of the gazes leveled at her. She saw surprise and hope in Alice's eyes that she'd come to help her and knew that she couldn't abandon the blonde girl to her fate. As Kairi took a deep breath and prepared to speak, she wondered if she'd just got Pluto and herself too deep into trouble.

"I'm Princess Kairi, Emissary of the Destiny Islands!" lied Kairi. "I've come to witness your majesty's governance as inspiration for my own kingdom, but must currently protest your treatment of this girl."

"Oh?" asked the Queen. "I've never heard of such a kingdom. I think you're making this up."

"I am not my Queen," said Kairi. "I've come a far distance, but we have heard of you and your great rule over...uh…" Here Kairi faltered as she realized she didn't actually know what the world was called she saw Alice mouthing something at her and tried to repeat it. "About your great rule of Wonderland."

Kairi hoped that name was right as the Queen became contemplative and Alice gave a silent sigh of relief. After a moment, the Queen spoke again. "I guess I can give an honored dignitary a moment of my time, even if you're far below my stature and grandeur. What, pray tell, am I doing that is wrong to this criminal?"

"You've refused to give her a fair trial or allow her to present evidence to her defense," said Kairi. "That seems like a mean thing to do."

"Mean?" roared the Queen. "I'll tell you what's mean! Coming into my domain and speaking as if you know better than the Queen!"

"I do not know better than you," supplied Kairi quickly as the card guards around her gripped their weapons tighter, "but I think it would be only fair to allow her to present proof of her innocence."

"Fine then," said the Queen, sitting back in her chair. "Alice, do you have any proof?"

"None your Majesty since I've been locked up since I was accused!" protested Alice.

"Then the trial is now over," said the Queen. "I declare that it's off with her-"

"Wait!" yelled Kairi, interrupting the Queen again.

"A second time is pushing it!" roared the Queen, becoming red in the face from anger.

"Please, let me go find evidence of the real culprit to prove whether Alice is innocent or not!" said Kairi.

"Fine," said the Queen. "But if you fail to find evidence in a timely matter or I'm not satisfied with it, then it's off with all of your heads!"

Kairi gulped slightly at the thought of losing her head but gave the Queen a bow anyways. "Thank you your Majesty. I will return soon enough."

"Look in the forest for the Cheshire cat!" said Alice, pointing to an exit that led into a forest from the garden. "He can help you prove my innocence!"

"Quiet!" demanded the Queen. "Now go!"

"I'll be back," said Kairi, looking at Alice this time. She walked into the forest, Pluto following after her. The scenery changed almost immediately. The blue sky was blocked out by tall red trees that rose up high into the sky and cast a canopy over everything. Much like the rest of Wonderland the forest didn't seem to really follow the rules Kairi usually assumed nature followed and she wondered if this world was weird or if her Islands had been the weird place. Giant mushrooms towered over her, scattered throughout the forest and she could've sworn that flowers swiveled to look at her as she walked past. She came across a pond that looked like it was painted on the ground but throwing a stone caused ripples as it sunk below the surface of what was now water.

"Everything here is so strange…" marveled Kairi. She was rather distressed to find that the one familiar thing in the forest was the sight of Heartless appearing into view, purple portals signaling their approach with a popping noise. She saw some of the soldiers and jars from Traverse Town but there was also a new type, this a very large Heartless wearing a type of vest with a metal hat on top of its head. The Heartless noticed her and started to converge on her.

Kairi couldn't retreat, her back to the strange pond. Next to her Pluto started to growl loudly at the Heartless, crouched low to the ground as if ready to pounce on them. And he did, jumping high into the air and tackling a floating blue jar to the ground, causing it to disappear in dark wisps, a pink heart floating free. The large Heartless turned and swung at him, knocking him sprawling to the ground with a whimper.

"No you don't!" she yelled, rushing the Heartless. The Keyblade appeared in her hand and she gripped it with her second hand, stabbing as hard as she could at the back of the large heartless. The weapon went right through the thing's body and destroyed it, sending a heart floating off into the air.

Kairi was surprised momentarily that her attack had worked but didn't have too much time to respond as a soldier charged at her. Kairi couldn't attack in time, only able to bring the Keyblade up at the last moment. The soldier struck the blade with a claw and sent her flying backwards to land on her rear. A red jar flew to her right and fire started to glow around it. She rolled to the side just in time, avoiding the fire ball that struck the ground where she'd been.

The soldier continued to attack her, jumping into the air and spiraling at her. Pluto came flying through the air and intercepted the soldier, sending both of them tumbling into the pond to disappear beneath the surface.

"Pluto!" yelled Kairi, staggering to her feet and looking at where the dog had disappeared. She heard a crackling sound and saw the red jar charging up again. This time when it fired she swung her Keyblade and knocked the attack away, sending it to strike a tree which refused to be lit on fire. Kairi ran at the red jar and jumped up into the air, swinging the Keyblade at it. It wasn't able to get out of the way in time, and was destroyed by her attack.

With no enemies left to distract her Kairi ran over to the pond and knelt by it, desperately trying to find her friend in the painted blue surface. "Pluto!" she cried. Suddenly the surface rippled and as if by magic Pluto came jumping out, landing deftly on the ground next to her. Kairi felt tears building up in her eyes as she moved to envelope her large friend in a hug, his fur dry despite falling into the pond.

"Tears, a confusing thing really," said an amused voice, causing Kairi to look up. She was surprised to see no one around, but that didn't stop the voice from talking, sounding like it was right next to her. "Are they of sadness or of joy? How can you tell?"

"It's based on one's heart, isn't it?" said Kairi. "If you feel joy they're of joy and if you feel sadness they're of sadness."

"Yes, that is true, of one's self at least," replied the voice, sounding even more amused. "But how do you know about the tears of others? People lie, how can you trust they tell the truth?"

"You just can," replied Kairi. "Don't you need to? Now, who are you? Where are you?"

"Ah, questions, always good to hear," said the voice. "As for where I am, I'm right here." A large grin appeared on top of a mushroom a short distance from Kairi, just floating in midair. Then, after a moment an outline appeared and a large purple and red striped cat appeared, resting on the mushroom as if a man reclining leisurely for the day. "As for who I am, I'm who you were looking for, are I not?"

"You're the Cheshire Cat?" asked Kairi.

"Or so I've led myself to believe," replied the cat.

"Do you know who the culprit who tried to steal the Queen's heart is?"

"Of course," replied the cat. "And so do you, those that lack a heart long to consume more."

"The Heartless…" muttered Kairi, understanding now. "How do I prove that to the Queen?"

"There is evidence, scattered about that will change her mind, if you can find it," stated the cat.

"Can you tell me where it is?" asked Kairi.

"In the forest, and that's all the hint you get," said the cat, sounding amused. Its body started to fade, its smile lingering behind for a few moments. "It'd be no fun to ruin the suspense of the story that easily. Just remember, time is running out to save Alice from her fate."

With the cat seemingly gone for good, Kairi turned to Pluto. "Well, we'd better find that evidence quickly. Any idea where to start?"

The dog gave a quick bark and started to pad off into the forest, his nose low to the ground as he followed a trail she couldn't see or notice. They traveled to and fro, hither and yonder through the forest searching for the evidence the Cheshire cat had said was there. Kairi didn't know what they were looking for, but trusted the cat when he said it'd be there and trusted that Pluto could find it. As they traveled the sights got weirder and weirder, exits from the forest occasionally leading directly into rooms that followed no sane orientation or scale.

Occasionally a doorway that deposited them on the floor of one room that when entered another way would lead them onto the wall of the same room, which now functioned as if it was now the floor gravity pulled them towards.

To Kairi's annoyance, but not her surprise anymore, they encountered more Heartless. She still didn't know how to fight, but she was realizing that she didn't need to. The Heartless she encountered all had patterns they followed, no sign of individual initiative to show. This meant as long as she knew the patterns, she could defeat them with, if not ease, then reliably without having to fear for her life or Pluto's.

Kairi was getting used to the strangeness of this new world so it didn't surprise her the first time she came across the wrapped present sitting on top of a giant mushroom in the middle of the forest. Approaching cautiously she'd picked it up and heard a voice.

"The first is yours, but can this proof sway the Queen? I guess if you want to be sure, you could always collect more. I'd say even the Queen would need to be convinced if four pieces of evidence were brought before her. Although time is running out, so maybe certainty isn't as certain. Just remember, don't open the boxes until the trial."

Kairi looked around and didn't see anyone but her and Pluto around. She was wondering how to carry the box, which was the size of her head, when without fanfare the box started to shrink. Then the shrinking box started to flatten and stretch. The transforming box snaked around Kairi's arm and tied itself into a bow, now secured and easy to carry.

"Wow," admired Kairi aloud. Pluto barked and drew her attention away from the evidence/present/bow thing and to the dog. He was several steps ahead of her, his tail wagging furiously as he waited for her to catch up, seeming to be on the scent of something. Kairi jogged up to him and scratched behind his ears affectionately. After he'd had his fill he went lopping off, Kairi following closely behind him.

They encountered more Heartless and strange rooms, and Kairi wasn't really sure how much time had passed but she hoped it wasn't too much. With each new piece of evidence they came across her worry for Alice's safety grew, not sure that the Queen wouldn't just be impatient and cut off the blonde girl's head. Now with four bows tied firmly around her arm, Kairi once again heard the voice of the Cheshire cat echoing through the forest.

"Well done on your hunt," complimented the cat. Kairi was starting to get used to hearing the tone of amused superiority in the cat's voice and was kind of relieved to hear it, it was a constant in the weird world she'd found herself in. The cat's smile appeared in a tree branch above her, slowly followed by the rest of the cat. "The rabbit would be proud, not too late, not too late... Although if I were you, I'd hurry, never know when the executioner's axe could go snicker snack, and it's off with poor Alice's head!"

"I don't think that's anything to joke about," chided Kairi angrily. Then she remembered that the cat was the one who'd helped her, if only with hints. Her expression and tone softened and she gave him a slight bow. "Thank you very much for your help sir."

"It wasn't any skin off of my back," replied the cat, disappearing suddenly. In between the moment that Kairi blinked the cat reappeared in front of her, standing up on two legs, paw outstretched. "But I'll take the praise if you offer it."

Kairi crouched down and shook the cat's paw, an icy feeling running up from her hand through her arm. Kairi shook off the feeling, smiling at the cat. "Thank you once again."

"Don't be late now!" said the cat, jumping backwards and disappearing, leaving Kairi and Pluto all alone in the forest.

Pluto looked questioningly at her as she stood back up. She flashed a brilliant smile at the dog. "Well, we'd better get going and save Alice!"

Pluto gave an excited bark and started to run off into the forest, Kairi running as fast as she could after him. They were lucky and didn't encounter any Heartless on their way back to the Queen's garden. Everything was how they'd left it, the card soldiers standing at silent attention as the white rabbit paced back and forth restlessly, a furrow dug in the ground beneath him by the motion. The Queen sat on her chair, asleep, her head resting in her hand. Alice was locked high up in a cage and was the first to react to Kairi returning to the garden. The blonde girl gripped the bars of her cage in both hands, a smile on her face.

"Kairi!" yelled Alice, drawing everyone's attention. "You've returned!"

"And I have the evidence to prove your innocence!" replied Kairi excitedly.

The white rabbit had stopped pacing and was staring at the Queen, his eyes bulging large as he muttered under his breath. "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear…"

The Queen had been startled awake by the noise and was shaking around up in her chair, her body jerking so much that Kairi was worried she'd fall. The Queen didn't fall though as she looked around, her face red with anger.

"Who dares to awaken the Queen from her nap!" roared the Queen, her gaze finally falling on Kairi. "I should chop off your head for your insolence!"

"I have the evidence to prove Alice's innocence your majesty!" replied Kairi, her heart thumping in her chest in worry.

"You do, do you?" seethed the Queen in quiet fury. "Then present your evidence and you'd better hope it's good, or it's off with your head also!"

Kairi walked up to the podium that rest in front of the Queen and untied the bows from her arm. As she put each one down on the podium it started to change shape, growing in size to once again become the pink boxes she'd found. It probably said a lot about where she was that no one seemed to find any of this weird. Kairi didn't realize that the fact she wasn't surprised by such a thing either also said a lot about her now too.

"Well, well," said the Queen, sounding mildly impressed which seemed to Kairi to be better than the anger or boredom she'd been expressing earlier. "Four pieces of evidence? You've been busy."

"Yes your majesty," replied Kairi with a slight bow, hoping flattery would help. "In these boxes contains evidence of the true culprit!"

"Then stop stalling and open them!" roared the Queen, getting impatient once more.

Kairi reached out to the first box and gripped the top with both hands. She could feel her heart thumping hard in her chest and wondered that no one else seemed to be able to hear it. She took a deep breath, releasing it slowly to still her heart and focused on Alice and getting her out of wrongfully being accused. Kairi lifted off the top of the box and removed it.

When the lid was removed there was a moment where nothing happened but it was quickly broken when light sprung out of the box and formed a screen. Images started to play across the screen and Kairi was surprised by what she saw. The screen showed Alice, following the white rabbit down a hole and landing into Wonderland and then travelling about by herself as she tried to figure out where she was. The screen showed her meetings with the Cheshire cat among other things, eventually culminating in her capture by the Queen and her being accused of trying to steal the Queens heart. When the recording got to the end it terminated, the box bursting into confetti. Nowhere on the recording did it ever show Alice getting anywhere close to the Queen or trying to steal her Heart.

"There!" yelled Alice triumphantly. "It couldn't have been me! I was nowhere near you! Now please release me!"

"Quiet!" roared the Queen. She glared down at Kairi. "This evidence seems convincing, but nowhere does it show me who the real culprit is! If you can't find that, then your heads will still roll!"

"I still have more evidence to present!" said Kairi, reaching out and lifting off the top of the second box.

Once again a screen was formed and this time it showed the Queen herself going about her day, never meeting Alice. Then at one point while playing some weird game that included hitting balls with flamingos the shadows of the tree nearest the Queen started to darken and pool unnaturally. Several of the shadow Heartless stood up out if the shadows and charged at the Queen. Luckily for her she'd been about to swing at the ball but missed spectacularly, spinning around and hitting a shadow, causing it to go flying and out of the distance. Noticing the attackers the Queen screamed and her guards swarmed the field, overwhelming and destroying the shadows.

When the second image ended Kairi didn't even wait for the Queen to protest and took the lid off of the third box. This time the screen showed the image of a tall lady in a long flowing black cloak, a dark aura radiating off of her. She was talking to someone but Kairi couldn't see who it was.

"I doubt we'll get a very strong Heart from someone like her," came the sinister voice of the woman, "but we'll steal her Heart anyways. It'll be a good example to everyone who refuses to work with us."

"I doubt she even remembers that you asked her to join us!" came an amused voice from the shadows.

"A weak, pitch black heart like hers deserves to be a heartless, probably a shadow," said a third voice, sounding smug.

"Then we'll send a few shadows to get the job done!" said a fourth voice. "Enough of this though. How is the retrieval of the seven princess's going?"

"Very well," said the woman. "We currently have four of them captured, and a fifth located. Ironically she's also in Wonderland, so we'll have the Heartless retrieve her while they steal the Queen's Heart."

The image faded there and Kairi was too shocked by what she'd heard to open the fourth box. She looked up and saw the Queen quietly seething in anger, steam actually rising off of her head. "How dare they!" roared the Queen. "Try to steal my Heart do they? Guards! Search every inch of Wonderland for these conspirators! I will not rest until their heads roll!"

As the guards moved to obey Kairi raised her voice, "and what about Alice?" she asked.

The Queen looked back down at Kairi, then up at Alice and back down to Kairi as if she'd forgotten they were there, which she probably had. "What about Alice?"

"You know she's not the criminal," insisted Kairi. "Can she be released now?"

"Fine, fine," dismissed the Queen, focusing on other matters already. "Get her out and be gone from my sight!"

Kairi went over to Alice's cage and lowered it to the ground with the winch. When it was on the ground she went to open the door and found it locked. She looked back up at the Queen. "Where's the key to the cage?"

"What?" asked the Queen, confused.

"They key," pressed Kairi. "To unlock the cage."

"Not my problem," dismissed the Queen, looking away.

"You need to get me out of here somehow!" said Alice worriedly.

"Don't worry, I will get you out of there," assured Kairi, trying to figure out what to do. She racked her mind for a solution. "A key…a key…where am I going to get a key…"

Suddenly the solution occurred to Kairi and she held out her hand. The Keyblade appeared in her hand and drew a gasp of surprise from Alice. Kairi stood back to make room between herself and the cage and held up the Keyblade so that it was pointing at the lock.

"Stand back," she told Alice, the blonde girl obeying and stepping back as far back in the tiny cage as she could. Kairi closed her eyes and concentrated, hoping that one of the strange powers Yuffie had mentioned was that it actually functioned like a key. The tip of the Keyblade glowed brightly and a small beam of light flew out and into the lock of the cage. There was the sound of the cage unlocking and then it swung open, freeing Alice.

Alice ran out of the cage and to Kairi, embracing her in a hug. "Oh thank you very much!" exclaimed Alice, releasing Kairi and smiling brightly at her. "I don't even want to think about what would have happened if you hadn't come to save me! You're like a brilliant knight!"

"You're welcome," said Kairi, bashfully, feeling herself turning red and averting her gaze to her feet. She changed the topic quickly. "We should get going before the Queen changes her mind and decides it's off with our heads!"

"Heaven forbid!" gasped Alice. The two girls started to run out of the garden, Pluto following behind. Kairi stopped briefly as they passed the podium and grabbed up the last piece of evidence, wrapping it around her arm again as it turned into a bow. The three ran out of the garden and back into the room where Kairi had drank the potion to become small. They stopped and Kairi turned to look at Alice.

"I don't think I've properly introduced myself," she said. "I'm Kairi and this is Pluto."

"Nice to meet you Kairi," said Alice with a smile which she then turned to Pluto. "And nice to meet you too Pluto. My name is Alice Liddel."

"So, now what?" asked Kairi.

"Now what what?" asked Alice.

"Are you going to go home?"

Alice became thoughtful for a moment. "I guess I should. I'm dreadfully tired of all the madness here. It'll be nice to be somewhere where things make sense. Are you and Pluto also going to return home?"

Kairi looked down, feeling tears about to come to her eyes again. "I don't have a home to return to…it was destroyed by the Heartless."

"Oh my…" said Alice. She suddenly stepped forward and pulled Kairi into another embrace. "It'll be okay…you could come live with me!"

They broke off the hug and Kairi wiped away the tears, smiling at Alice. "Thank you, but I can't."

"Why not?" asked Alice.

"I still have something I need to do," replied Kairi. "My friends, Sora and Riku, are still out there somewhere. I can just feel it in my heart. I need to find them and make sure they're okay before I do anything else."

"I'll help you find them!" offered Alice. "I've been gone this long, I don't see why I couldn't continue to travel with you."

Kairi smiled but shook her head at that. "I appreciate it but I think you should go home. You've been gone for a while, right? Someone is bound to be missing you."

"I guess…" said Alice. "But-"

Suddenly Pluto started to growl loudly at something and both girls turned around to see a giant monster crashing down into the room. The thing was huge and only got taller as it stood up, revealing four spindly legs. The thing was alternating colors of black and red and had two long arms that looked like they were made from unfolded paper strips, each gripping a baton larger than Kairi. The head was a long cylinder of alternating red and black stripes with beady yellow eyes staring at them from it. On the monster's chest was a large black and red heart, the emblem that Kairi was coming to associate with the Heartless.

"Stand back!" yelled Kairi, stepping in front of Alice and pulling out her Keyblade. Pluto moved to by her side, growling at the monster.

"What is it?" asked Alice, sounding worried.

"A Heartless," replied Kairi.

"Like those things that attacked the Queen?"

"Yeah."

"What's it want?"

"I don't know," said Kairi, although she was worried that the answer was as simple as their hearts. The monster took a step forward, swinging the batons around frantically as it moved in on them.

"Can you beat it?" asked Alice.

"I don't know…" said Kairi, her hand shaking as she gripped her Keyblade tighter. She'd never fought anything this big before, and she doubted that it was just big. There was an air about it, which told Kairi that this monster was dangerous and some sense screamed at her to take Alice and Pluto and run. When the Heartless ran it's batons against the ground, creating sparks and lighting them both on fire, Kairi knew that that sixth sense was right. She turned to Alice. "We need to run. I can't beat it."

"Where are we going to run to?" asked Alice.

Kairi looked past the Heartless to the door she'd originally entered through. It was too big to leave through now and the Heartless was too close to the bottles on the table so they couldn't change back. This only left one avenue of escape. Kairi unsummoned her Keyblade, grabbed Alice's arm and ran back towards the Queen's garden. As she started to turn she saw the Heartless crouching down and then jumping into the air. They were barely through the door way as the thing came crashing down, a shockwave knocking them off their feet and onto the grass. Kairi groaned as she stood up, and was face to face with the Heartless's beady yellow eyes. She almost expected it to come crashing through the doorway and was surprised and it stood up and disappeared from view, although she could hear it stomping about in the room.

"We're safe!" said Alice, a grateful smile on her face.

Kairi was about to respond as she heard a voice coming from the room with the Heartless.

"I say!" said the voice, which Kairi identified as the doorknob. "How dare you wake me up from my nap! If I had a body as large as yours then I'd have half a mind to take those batons and discipline yo…wait, what are you doing? Don't come any closer. I swear, if you get any closer to me then I'l-"

The doorknob was cut off with a strangled cry of utter horror that Kairi knew would haunt her dreams for a while. She heard Alice gasp next to her as she also realized that something was going horribly wrong. Suddenly the light around them dimmed, as if it was covered in shadows. Then a deep, dark pool of darkness started to spread into the garden, covering everything with its inky depths. It started to cover every surface from the floor, to the walls and even started to spread into the sky. Kairi started to back away slowly, Alice and Pluto doing the same.

"What's going on?" asked Alice, frightened.

"The world is being consumed by the Heartless…" said Kairi, awareness dawning on her followed by horror. She was witnessing it yet again, the fall of a world. Something she was yet again unable to stop, like with her island. Kairi turned to try to run but saw that the darkness was closing on the three of them from all sides, a black void and a patch of green grass all that was left of Wonderland. The three companions edged closer to each other until they were crowded back to back.

"What do we do?!" cried Alice.

"I…I don't know…" said Kairi sadly. The darkness edged up to her feet and she reached out, gripping Alice's hand with one hand and burying the other in Pluto's fur. "Just…just don't get separated…"

Then the darkness was upon them, followed by a flash of light and Kairi once again felt herself drifting through the darkness, unsure of what was going to happen to her but sure that she'd failed somewhere.


	4. Deep Jungle

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts

Please read and review, your feedback helps me to write better stories.

* * *

 _The Heartless appear in groups, and are multiplying rapidly. I've provided them both living and nonliving samples. They've responded only to the living. They seem to multiply after absorbing something from the living creatures. Their prey vanishes without a trace._

 _I believe the Heartless are taking hearts. They are born from those who've lost their hearts, and thrive on hearts seized from others. The hearts taken by the Heartless become Heartless themselves._

 _Though I lack proof, I am confident in this hypothesis. I must also study their behavioral principles. Though they lack emotions, they do seem to have some intelligence. How to communicate with them?_

 _It's just occurred to me: Could they be the darkness in people's hearts?_

 _-Ansem's Report 4_

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Deep Jungle**

* * *

"Raaah!" yelled Kairi, falling onto her back in the sand, eyes pinched closed in frustration.

"What's wrong Kairi?" asked a voice. Kairi opened her eyes and saw Sora kneeling above her, a smile on his face.

"I messed up!" yelled Kairi in frustration.

"With what?" asked Sora.

"With everything."

"I doubt you've messed up everything Kairi," said Sora with a gentle smile.

"Yes I have!" exclaimed Kairi. "I couldn't save Alice, I couldn't save Wonderland, I couldn't save Pluto, I couldn't protect Leon or Yuffie. I could only run from it all! I ran when the Islands fell and I failed to save Riku. I failed to save you…"

"So, you hate being weak?" asked Sora.

"Yes!"

"Then why do you stay weak?"

"Huh?" asked Kairi, confused at the harshness of Sora's words. "I don'-"

"Yes you do," interrupted Sora, scowling at her. "You could have trained with us, but you didn't. You let others do the fighting, and willingly stayed weak. When you finally gained power, you hesitated to use it and only chose to use it at the last minute, and rather sloppily I might add. Everything has been a choice, made by you. A choice to remain weak."

"Sora…" muttered Kairi, her eyes misting with tears. "What are you saying?"

"I'm offering you a choice," replied Sora, walking around her to stand in front of her. Kairi sat up on the sand so that she could get a better look at him. Sora held out his hand to her. "I can make you stronger. If you give me your hand you can get the power you want. The power to never lose again. The power to crush anything in front of you. Just trust me. Take my hand and it's yours."

Kairi looked from the hand in front of her to the predatory smile on Sora's face that seemed out of place, an expression the Sora she knew would never make. So it was without hesitation that Kairi knocked away the fake Sora's hand and jumped to her feet, backing up from the imposter slightly, her Keyblade appearing in her hand.

"You're not Sora!" she growled. "Who are you?!"

The imposter Sora's expression turned shocked for a moment before twisting into a smug smile that seemed to Kairi to be slightly predatory. "I'm Sora, don't you believe me Kairi?"

"No! I don't!"

"Well too bad," replied the imposter Sora harshly. "I'm not lying. I am Sora, or at least the darkness in him, amplified a bit. I guess if you won't go to the darkness willingly, then we'll have to do this the fun way!"

The imposter Sora's hair turned pitch black, his eyes turning into a golden amber color. Darkness covered his body and turned into a skin tight suit that accented his muscles, a dark web of veins running throughout. On his chest appeared the black and red emblem of the Heartless.

"Raah!" yelled the imposter, holding his hand out to his side. Kairi felt a tugging feeling and was surprised when her Keyblade disappeared from her hand and appeared in the imposter's hand. He flashed her a predatory smile. "I'll be taking back what's mine now. I hope you enjoyed it for the brief period you had it, your fun is over now."

"No…" muttered Kairi, fear gripping her heart. She focused on the feeling of summoning the Keyblade and tried to get it to reappear in her hand. No matter how hard she tried, nothing happened. She took a step backwards, followed by another. The imposter matched her steps, slowly pursuing her.

"Running won't save you, you know," laughed the imposter. "Just give in to the inevitable. Either you join the darkness or you die. Choose."

Thoughts ran through Kairi's mind at an impossible speed and she only managed to snag a few threads before she was forced to act, but it was enough to settle on a course of action. Kairi stopped retreating and stood her ground, clenching her hands tightly into fists. She unclenched them and gave a sigh of defeat. She walked towards the imposter and held out her hand, ready to take his. The imposter smiled in anticipation and walked towards her, reaching to grab her hand in acceptance.

So it came as a surprise to the imposter when Kairi suddenly surged forward and tackled the imposter to the ground. She clenched her fists again and swung a punch home to his face, shocking him for a moment. Before he could recover she was pinning down his sword arm and trying to wrestle the Keyblade back from him.

"What are you doing?" growled the imposter.

"I'll never join you or the darkness," replied Kairi. "And I won't let someone like you have the Keyblade either."

"You can't stop me!" yelled the imposter. A wave of darkness surged from him and sent Kairi flying off of him and through the air. As she recovered and tried to stand up she saw the imposter approaching her, the Keyblade gripped tightly in his hand. He lifted it up into the air and swung it down at her. "Now you die!"

Kairi closed her eyes in anticipation but was surprised to hear a clang of metal on metal instead of the feeling of her life being ended.

"What?" growled the imposter in frustration. "Who are you?"

Kairi opened her eyes and saw the back of someone wearing a long, brown hooded cloak. There were more clanging noises and the imposter was pushed back away from them. The newcomer held their right hand out to their side and Kairi was shocked by what she saw. In the newcomer's hand was a weapon that reminded her of a heavily stylized Keyblade. The shaft of the weapon was made of silver-white metal and looked like a spear. The teeth of the Keyblade was a wing that had a broken red heart inside of it. The guard of the Keyblade followed the same pattern as before with it shaped vaguely like a grey heart with an uneven wing design on the outside. From the hilt of the Keyblade hung a keychain that ended in a charm similar to the teeth of the Keyblade, a red heart surrounded by silver wings. The Keyblade was gripped in the newcomer's hand in a strange backhand style that Kairi had never seen before.

"…."

"Staying quiet won't save an imposter Keyblade wielder like you or that girl from my wrath!" yelled the imposter.

Kairi blinked and almost missed the movement of the newcomer rushing forward and engaging the imposter in combat. The imposter was only just barely able to defend off the flurry of quick attacks that the newcomer leveled at him. Kairi watched, amazed as the newcomer pushed the imposter back, somehow getting faster and hitting harder with each strike while the imposter was slowing down and getting weaker. The newcomer's Keyblade glowed with an increasing brightness of light that didn't blind Kairi but rejuvenate her. She got to her feet just as the imposter Sora swung with a powerful strike, darkness cloaking his Keyblade. The newcomer flipped up into the air, their cloak billowing around them as a gust of wind surrounded them and carried them up higher. Once high up in the air the newcomer's Keyblade glowed even brighter, forcing the imposter to divert his eyes. A gale whipped up around the newcomer, balls of light interspersed throughout it. The imposter had nowhere to run as the gale turned into a tornado and ran right over them. There was a scream as the wind and light ripped the imposter to shreds, sending out dark wisps of darkness that burned away to nothing.

The newcomer landed on the ground lightly as if they hadn't been high up in the air, their back still to her. Kairi took a tentative step forward.

"Who are you?" asked Kairi. The newcomer looked over their shoulder at her, their face still obscured by their hood. They held up their free hand and gave her a thumbs up.

"A friend," said the newcomer.

At those words Kairi's world was once again torn apart, the island scenery shattering into a blinding white landscape that the newcomer walked into, disappearing. Kairi tried to take another step forward.

"Wait! I haven't thanked you yet!" she yelled. As she stepped onto the white nothing she lost her balance and fell down into the white abyss, unsure of where she'd land.

* * *

The first thing Kairi noticed when she woke up was that she was sore all over, as if she'd had a hard landing somewhere. The next thing she noticed was the sound of something snarling and snapping, extremely close to her. Then she opened her eyes and saw the large jaguar that was awfully close to mauling her except that a large man in a loin cloth was holding it off with a spear. The man growled back at the jaguar and slammed the butt of his spear into its side, sending it sprawling across the wooden floor of wherever Kairi now found herself. The jaguar recovered quickly to its feet, snarled once more at them and fled through a doorway.

When the jaguar was gone the man with the spear still looked around briefly until he seemed assured that it really was gone. His posture relaxed and he lowered his spear. The man turned around and looked at Kairi as if studying her. Kairi was still disoriented so she replied rather lamely. "Hello."

The man cocked his head to the side as if confused by something and he growled out some unintelligible words. Kairi was unsure of how to proceed in talking to him so she stood up slowly, glad that the man didn't attack or try to stop her from doing so, and looked around the room. The room was large and fairly empty with only a few crates stacked on one end underneath a staircase that led up to a balcony that jutted in and overlooked the inside of the room. The whole place was made of wooden planks with doorways and windows interspersed throughout it. Kairi thought she could see tree tops outside the window and wondered how high up they were.

She turned her attention back to the man who was still studying her as if he'd never seen anyone like her before. She smiled awkwardly at him. "Uh…thank you for saving me…probably…."

"Ooh…Sabor bad…saved you," grunted the man, surprising Kairi.

"You can understand me?" asked Kairi.

"Ooh uh," grunted the man and Kairi wasn't sure if that counted as a yes or no but he seemed to at least get something about what she was saying so she decided to try again.

"My name is Kairi," she said, pointing to herself. "Who are you?"

"Kai-ri," said the man, trying out the name and pointing to her. He then pointed to himself. "Me, Tarzan."

"Hello Tarzan," said Kairi, smiling in relief. "Nice to meet you. Could you tell me where I am?"

"Jungle," grunted Tarzan.

"Which Jungle?" asked Kairi.

"Jungle," repeated Tarzan.

Something suddenly occurred to Kairi as her senses finally caught up to her and she looked around. "Where are my friends?" she asked.

"Friends?" asked Tarzan.

"Yeah," said Kairi. "My friends, Pluto and Alice."

"Plu-to. Al-ice," said Tarzan, sounding out the names.

"Yeah, have you seen them?"

"Friends…Al-ice, Plu-to."

"Yes?" asked Kairi hopefully. "I was separated from them. Could you take them to me?"

"Friends. Ooh ah ooh," said Tarzan. He turned around and gestured to Kairi. "Kairi, follow. Take to friends."

"Really?" asked Kairi, brightening up with hope. "You can take me to my friends?"

"Ooh ah," grunted Tarzan. He started to walk off and Kairi followed, stumbling slightly as she adjusted to walking after the death of a world followed by unconsciousness, a weird subliminal dream fight between an evil Sora and a stranger in a cloak, and the fact she's pretty sure she fell a distance to the floor and felt sore all over. Tarzan halted briefly to let her catch up, watching her with concern but she just raised up a hand and smiled at him.

"I'm fine," said Kairi. "Let's get to my friends."

Tarzan seemed to at least understand the meaning of her words and continued to lead her out of the room. Outside Kairi realized that her first impression had been slightly off. They weren't just in a jungle, they were above a jungle in a large treehouse made up of pieces of a ship and housed in the boughs of a large tree. Tarzan helped her down a ladder and then down a gently curving path that led down into the forest. As they made their way through the jungle, weaving along a path that only existed in Tarzan's mind but seemed easy enough for her to handle, Kairi felt her body protesting at the abuse she was putting it through. She wanted to rest, her head hurting and pounding in ways she wasn't sure were just due to physical reasons, but she ignored it and continued following Tarzan. Kairi's breathing started to get heavier but she refused to ask Tarzan for a break. She was pretty sure by now that he understood her, mostly at least, and just had a hard time speaking the same language. Kairi tried to distract herself by wondering what language it was that he did speak, it was pretty weird sounding.

Eventually the jungle thinned and they made their way to a clearing, a large boulder sitting in the middle of it. When they were halfway through the clearing Tarzan stopped, gripping his spear tight with both hands.

"Danger," he grunted, causing Kairi to stop. Kairi looked around, but didn't see anything at first. Then she heard a popping sound that she was getting too familiar with and stuck her hand out, summoning the Keyblade to her hand. She was surprised when it did so without any trouble and she couldn't help but remember the dream and the feeling of losing the Keyblade. Kairi tightened her grip on the Keyblade as she surveyed the Heartless that had them surrounded. That they were Heartless she was sure of, the now familiar red and black heart symbol on their chest. Otherwise they were of a type she wasn't used to. There were roughly a dozen large blue monkeys with bright yellow eyes surveying them.

"Heartless," muttered Kairi.

Tarzan looked at her and then repeated the word, "Heartless. Smell bad."

Kairi couldn't help but crack a smile at Tarzan's comment but soon her focus was drawn back to the Heartless as they moved in on the pair. Tarzan was a blur as he moved from her side to meet the incoming Heartless. He stabbed with his spear and took the first Heartless out. A second moved in on him but he just jumped over it and threw his spear straight through it. Two of the monkey Heartless converged on him from both sides and attempted to trap him without his weapon but it did no good. Tarzan dodged nimbly around them and their strikes, grabbing his spear and destroying a pursuing monkey. He then held out his free hand and a burst of wind shot from it, knocking one of the monkeys into a second one, bowling them both over into a heap.

Kairi was so impressed by the sight of Tarzan fighting that she almost missed it when one of the monkeys attacked her. She got the Keyblade up just in time to clumsily block the attack. The monkey then attacked again, this time jumping into the air at her. Kairi was ready for it and swung the Keyblade, knocking the monkey out of the air. It flipped through the air and recovered perfectly on top of the boulder, jumping up and down in what Kairi could tell was clearly anger.

"Aw, come on!" yelled Kairi, frustrated herself. The monkey leapt high into the air once again, heading straight towards her. Kairi gripped the Keyblade tightly in both hands and swung once again, this time her attack went straight through the monkey, sending out a pink heart. She pumped her fist into the air. "Alright!"

Kairi looked over to see how Tarzan was doing and was surprised as a monkey was just a few feet from her and charging right at her. She dove to the side just in time, the Heartless rushing right past her, going so fast that it hit the boulder instead, causing it to crack slightly. It turned around and looked menacingly at her.

"Not again…" muttered Kairi, her breath coming out heavily now. She was sweating profusely and her hands were feeling cold and clammy. She tightened her grip, determined not to lose to the monkey. She needed to help Tarzan. Then she needed to find Alice and Pluto. Once they were safe they could find Riku and Sora. She just knew those two could stop the Heartless from destroying anymore worlds. They'd make things right. "I won't let you destroy anymore!"

The monkey charged at her and swung with a claw that Kairi blocked with the Keyblade. It kicked at her, hitting her in the side and knocking her down. Kairi struggled the stand up, aware that the monkey was going to kill her any moment if she didn't.

"I need to…stand…now!" yelled Kairi, jumping to her feet and swinging the Keyblade with both hands. The weapon tore straight through the monkey, sending another heart into the sky. It took a moment for her to realize what had happened. When she did she felt relief flood her and a smile growing on her face. "I…I did it…"

Kairi's breath was coming out in ragged gasps now and she stuck the end of the Keyblade into the ground, leaning heavily on it for support. Her body was sore and her legs felt like they'd collapse if she tried to take even one step. None of that mattered though. What mattered was that she could fight and hold her own. She saw Tarzan taking on the remaining four Heartless by himself, stabbing through one and destroying it. He nimbly dodged attacks from the others, occasionally blocking with his spear. He kicked away one of the monkeys and then brought his spear down on another, destroying it also. The fourth charged at him but he raised another wind, this one stronger than before and sent the monkey into a tree trunk, splintering the trunk and destroying the monkey.

Kairi saw the last Heartless getting up and moving to approach Tarzan from behind. She gripped the Keyblade tightly and lifted it off the ground. The weapon seemed much heavier than she remembered but she didn't care. She had to help Tarzan; she had to destroy the last Heartless. Kairi took a step forward and felt the world shift underneath her. She lost her footing and fell forward, the edges of her vision darkening. As she passed out she saw Tarzan turning around to destroy the last Heartless himself.

* * *

Kairi woke up slowly, opening her eyes. The first thing she saw was an unfamiliar ceiling. After a moment of staring at it she realized she was in a tent. She heard movement and sat up in the bed, the blanket falling off of her. Kairi looked over and saw a woman pushing the tent flap aside and entering the tent. The woman had long brown hair and was dressed pretty plainly in in a tan tank top with a brown skirt that looked to be the remains of something else. She saw that Kairi was awake and flashed a kind smile at her.

"You're awake," said the woman, walking over to the bed. "How are you feeling? A headache or any remaining aches and pains?"

"…." Kairi tried to speak and found her throat dry, a croak coming out instead. The woman seemed to realize the problem and went over to a table and picked up a canteen. She opened it and handed it to Kairi. Kairi grabbed it and started to drink.

"Now don't drink it all too quickly," said the woman. Kairi slowed down her drinking, taking small sips and was glad as it cleared her throat. As Kairi did so, the woman continued to talk. "There's nothing to worry about. You're safe here. My name is Jane, and this is my camp. Tarzan brought you here when you collapsed in the jungle."

"Tarzan," said Kairi, her voice still slightly hoarse. "Is he okay?"

"Oh, he's fine as usual," said Jane with a smile. Came in carrying you like you weighed nothing, which I guess to him you do. Then he laid you down and got to healing you. He may not look it, but he's pretty good when it comes to healing. A bit old fashioned mind you, but effective none the less. He knows everything there is to know about it. Like which plants can be used to cure what and how. I guess it comes from living in the jungle with a pack of gorillas."

Kairi felt reassured by Jane's chatter and handing the canteen back to her collapsed back on the bed, relief filling her. She kept her eyes closed briefly but opened them when Jane started speaking again.

"So, how are you feeling?" asked Jane again.

"I'm feeling okay," replied Kairi automatically. It was only after she said it that she realized she really was feeling okay. Great even. All of her aches and pains had disappeared, along with her fatigue. She was hungry and still a little thirsty, but that was it. She wasn't actually sure she'd felt this good since she'd visited the island in the middle of the storm that had destroyed it. Thinking about that incident brought her back to her other worries and she sat up quickly, drawing a concerned look from Jane.

"Not too quickly now," said Jane gently.

"My friends," said Kairi. "Do you know where they are?"

"Your friends?" asked Jane. She smiled gently at Kairi. "You mean Alice and Pluto, correct?"

"Yes," said Kairi insistently. "Are they okay?"

"They're fine," replied Jane. "They actually stumbled into camp before you and Tarzan. They were looking for you and I told them that as soon as Tarzan was back, he would find you. There's no one who knows the jungle better than him. Imagine our surprise when Tarzan carries you here without being asked. They were both so worried for you."

"Really?" asked Kairi, her eyes misting up a bit.

"Really," said Jane. "The only reason they aren't here now is that they were waiting by your side for several hours and I sent them off to get some food. While they were eating they told Tarzan and I what you were all doing here. Tarzan promised to help them find your friends and they all went tramping off into the Jungle."

"They're searching for Riku and Sora?" asked Kairi, feeling her heart beat faster in anticipation.

"Alice didn't remember their names, but she was very insistent on helping you. You have a good friend in her."

"Yes," said Kairi, tears coming to her eyes. She tried to choke them back and failed. "I really do."

"Now just lay back and rest," said Jane gently. "I'm sure they'll be back any minute."

Kairi did so, pulling the blanket over her. She looked up at Jane. "Do you think they're going to find Riku and Sora?"

Jane's expression turned uncertain for a moment but it quickly passed and she flashed a smile at Kairi. "Tarzan said he'd help and he doesn't lie. If your friends are in the jungle, then he'll find them."

With that Jane exited the tent and Kairi soon found herself drifting off to sleep. This time her sleep was much more restful and she had a dream of returning to the Islands, Riku, Sora, Alice and Pluto in tow, showing them around to her favorite spots on the island. Together they all split a Paopu fruit, bound together forever as friends.

Kairi woke up to the sight of Jane entering the tent, the sun rising behind her. In her hands she had a tray of delicious smelling food. Jane smiled when she saw that Kairi was awake.

"Good morning, how are you feeling today?" asked Jane.

"Feeling much better," said Kairi, sitting up in the bed. Jane placed the tray on a nightstand next to the bed. She reached over and passed Kairi the canteen first and Kairi drank, once again glad for the water. When she had her fill of water she felt her stomach growl. Kairi felt herself blush bright red as Jane just gave her an amused smile. Jane gestured to the tray.

"The food is yours," she said. "Just eat slowly and if you feel like you can't keep it down, don't press yourself to do so."

"Okay," said Kairi. She started to eat, cutting the food into small bites and eating slowly. The food tasted great and she became aware of how long it had been since she'd actually had a proper meal. She cleared the plate, feeling satisfied and her stomach not even growling in protest.

"Feeling better?" asked Jane.

"Much better, thank you," said Kairi. Now that she was rested and fed, her thoughts were starting to catch up to her. She vividly remembered her dream from the night before and was eager to have it come true. "Did Tarzan, Alice and Pluto find anyone yet?"

Jane's expression turned sad momentarily before the woman turned away from Kairi, obscuring her face. "They…haven't returned yet."

"They haven't?" asked Kairi, confused. "Hasn't it been quite a while?"

"Not too long," cautioned Jane. "Only a few hours. They could have gone deep, deep into the jungle and be on their way back as we speak!"

"Or, they could have been killed by the dangers that reside in there," said a deep voice that Kairi didn't recognize. The tent flap was pushed open by a large balding man with a tightly groomed black mustache. He was wearing a bright yellow shirt and tan pants, a red scarf around his neck. In one hand he held a large gun of a type Kairi had never seen before.

"Mr. Clayton!" scolded Jane. "Don't talk like that!"

"I'm just stating the truth Ma'am," replied Mr. Clayton, holding up a hand as if to ward off Jane's fury. "We really don't know much about this jungle or Tarzan really, might I remind you. He refuses to even take us to see the gorillas as a show of good faith! No, they should have allowed a skilled hunter like myself to go along but they refused."

"That's preposterous!" said Jane. "We know for a fact that we can trust Tarzan. Just because he's not willing to jeopardize the secret grounds of the gorillas to a group of strangers isn't too surprising."

"So what about Alice and Pluto?" asked Kairi, starting to feel worried.

"Yes, what about her friends?" asked Mr. Clayton, looking at Jane. "They could be in trouble out there, possibly trouble Tarzan can't deal with, and here we are doing nothing!"

"And what, pray tell, do you think we should do about it?" asked Jane, hands on her hips.

"I say we mount a rescue mission!" declared Mr. Clayton.

"A rescue mission?" asked Jane skeptically.

"Yes, myself and the girl," said Mr. Clayton as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Kairi just got over injuries and being sick!" protested Jane. "She's not going back out into the jungle like that. She's just a little girl!"

"A little girl who can fight, or so I've heard," said Mr. Clayton.

"He's right," said Kairi, throwing the blanket off of her. "I'm better now, and I can fight."

"How could you possibly fight?" asked Jane.

Kairi stood up, and stuck out her hand. The Keyblade materialized into her hand, drawing a gasp from Jane. She looked at Jane and smiled. "Thank you for taking care of me, but I need to make sure they're okay. All three of them. I owe them so much."

"Yes, let the girl repay her debt," said Mr. Clayton with a smile.

Jane looked from Kairi, to Mr. Clayton back to Kairi. She gave a defeated sigh. "Fine, you win. Be careful when you're out there, we don't want to lose either of you."

"We'll be fine!" said Mr. Clayton happily. He looked down at Kairi, a smile on his face. "Now, gather up anything you need and let's move out immediately! No time to waste!"

"I'm ready," said Kairi, gripping the Keyblade tightly.

"Then let's get to it," said Mr. Calyton, walking out of the tent.

Kairi turned to Jane and flashed her a smile. "Don't worry, we'll be back soon. With Tarzan and everyone will be safe and sound.

"Good luck," said Jane, reaching over and bringing Kairi into a hug, which she returned awkwardly.

They broke off the embrace and Kairi exited the tent. Outside she saw Mr. Clayton waiting impatiently for her. She jogged over to him and he started to walk into the jungle without a word. Kairi followed, keeping the Keyblade out. She was worried, remembering her earlier trip in the jungle. She'd been attacked by a jaguar and a group of Heartless and she wondered if either would happen again. She also wondered if either of those had attacked Tarzan, Alice and Pluto. Kairi banished all such thoughts from her head, just focusing on following Mr. Clayton and keeping alert.

After they were quite deep into the jungle Mr. Clayton suddenly halted, his gun held up at the ready. Kairi stopped and gripped the Keyblade tightly, looking around the thick foliage.

"What is it?" asked Kairi. Mr. Clayton didn't respond, he just looked around. Kairi heard a rustling noise to their left. Mr. Clayton spun around and fired his gun with a loud bang. The shot tore through the leaves but didn't seem to hit anything. With her ears still ringing from the shot, Kairi barely noticed as the bushes behind them rustled. Mr. Clayton turned quickly to the threat but was too slow as the same jaguar as before, Sabor, Tarzan had called him, came pouncing out of the bushes at them. Mr. Clayton's gun went off but the shot missed, scoring a hole in a tree trunk.

Kairi could only gasp in surprise as Sabor hit Mr. Clayton with a clawed paw, drawing several thin trails of blood across his face. The older man went down hard on the ground as Sabor's weight pushed him off his feet.

"Leave him alone!" yelled Kairi, gripping the Keyblade in her hand. She swung at Sabor but the cat jumped nimbly to the side. Kairi looked down quickly at Mr. Clayton but he seemed unconscious. She turned her attention back to Sabor who had started to circle around her. Sabor lunged at her and Kairi swung with the Keyblade. Her attack was mistimed and missed Sabor. Sabor didn't miss though, his claws tearing through Kairi's shirt and into her side. Kairi let out a cry of pain as Sabor landed behind her. She fought to ignore the pain and turned to face the jaguar again. Sabor lunged once more and Kairi swung. She missed again but this time so did Sabor, landing close to where he'd started.

 _This isn't working_ , thought Kairi, wincing at the pain in her side. _I need to do something differently. I need to get that timing right somehow..._ An idea occurred to Kairi. She wasn't sure how smart it was to switch to an unknown style in the middle of the fight, but since she wasn't that used to any fighting style anyways, she didn't think it could hurt here.

Kairi switched her grip on the Keyblade, now holding it in a backhand style. She tried her best to hold it how her mysterious dream savior had been and hoped she was getting it right. Sabor eyed her and started to circle once more. Kairi swung a few times experimentally, trying to get the feel for this new way of holding the Keyblade. She thought she was getting the hang of things but didn't have enough time to really figure things out before Sabor leapt at her again. Kairi swung once more. Sadly she misjudged how much shorter her range was and how much faster her attacks were, missing her target. Luckily her attack was fast enough that she was able to recover into a second strike, hitting Sabor dead center in the head, interrupting his attack. Sadly Kairi's attack wasn't strong enough to knock Sabor away.

Sabor continued flying through the air, stunned but with all of his momentum. He collapsed on top of Kairi, crushing her. Luckily the Keyblade hadn't been buried and she started to strike Sabor repeatedly, the attacks not having full power due to the position. The air was being crushed out of her and she was worried about what would happen when the jaguar started attacking this close to her. Sabor started to stir, slowly rising, his hot breath blowing on Kairi's face. Kairi increased the pace of her blows, her heart beating faster and faster in panic.

 _I'm going to die here,_ thought Kairi. She felt like an eternity was passing as Sabor readied to kill her as she tried in vain to defeat him. Sabor gave a loud growl, right next to her face, causing her to wince. A loud bang followed directly afterwards, causing her to wince again. She expected the feeling of Sabor ripping into her at any moment but was instead surprised as he toppled over to the side, dead. Kairi stood up, just staring in shocked silence at the dead cat. She looked away and saw Mr. Clayton standing with his gun still smoking and leveled at Sabor. He had a focused, emotionless expression on his face as he lifted his gun back up to a carrying position.

"Th-thank you," said Kairi, her heart still beating rapidly. Mr. Clayton didn't say anything as he turned away and continued walking in the same direction that he had before. Kairi struggled to catch up, still disoriented from her fight. She realized the Keyblade was still gripped in her hand in a backhand style. She started doing practice swings into the air, trying to get the feel of things. It felt weird, but it didn't feel any stranger in her hand than how she'd been holding it before.

Mr. Clayton didn't say anything as they continued their trek through the jungle. The deeper they went, the more the hair on Kairi's arms stood up. A chill ran through her and she shivered unconsciously. She looked around the jungle but didn't see anything that would indicate trouble, not that she was sure she knew what trouble would look like. As they walked she started to hear the roar of a waterfall, getting louder and louder as they approached.

"Do you know where they are?" yelled Kairi, trying to be heard over the waterfall.

"I do," said Mr. Clayton, finally speaking up, his voice sounding strangely emotionless.

"How?" asked Kairi, trying to see the signs Mr. Clayton was using to direct their path.

"I just do," said Mr. Clayton, sounding distracted. His head was cocked slightly to the side as if he was listening to something but Kairi wasn't sure what it could be over the roar of the waterfall.

They came to the side of a cliff, the waterfall pounding down the Cliffside from above them down into the lake below. Mr. Clayton led them across a ledge, the stone made slick from the water. Kairi was so focused on safely navigating the slick ground that it too her a moment to pick out a new set of sounds that was increasing in volume as they approached a cave set into the Cliffside. When they entered the cave Mr. Clayton lowered his gun into a ready position, padding quietly across the stone like the professional hunter he was. Kairi tightened her grip on the Keyblade, holding it in the backhand style. They walked carefully down the tunnel and the sound increased. Eventually Kairi recognized voices, words of warning and caution being yelled by a voice shrill with terror. There was grunting, barking and a strange unnatural wail.

"Is that them?" asked Kairi softly. Mr. Clayton just ignored her, turning down the tunnel as it curved to the right. Kairi followed closely and let out a soft gasp as she saw what was making the noises. It was a battle, or at least she thought it was. Alice and Pluto were up on a ledge, looking around frantically. Down below on the cave floor was Tarzan, darting back and forth. Occasionally a chunk of the ground would crack and explode like it had been struck with a sledge hammer. The strange part was that there didn't seem to be anything causing it.

Pluto gave a bark and pointed to a spot to Tarzan's right. Alice didn't even look as she yelled down to Tarzan. "To the right!"

Tarzan responded quickly, lashing out with his spear. The tip hit something that Kairi couldn't see and another of those strange, angry wails filled the cave. Kairi felt a rush of air as something moved quickly through it, hitting Tarzan and knocking him towards where she was standing. She gave out another gasp as Tarzan landed at Mr. Clayton's feet. The older man didn't even flinch.

"Tarzan!" yelled Kairi, running over and kneeling down. Tarzan looked up at her.

"Kai-ri?" asked Tarzan. He looked over and saw Mr. Clayton, his face twisting in confusion. "Clay-ton?"

Mr. Clayton didn't respond, he just lowered his gun at Tarzan, his finger flittering above the trigger.

"Mr. Clayton?" asked Kairi, confused. "What are you doing?"

"Not Clayton!" yelled Tarzan, realization on his face. "Not Clayton!"

"What are you talking about?" asked Kairi, looking down at Tarzan then back up at Mr. Clayton. "What's going on? What were you fighting? We need to deal with that; don't we Mr. Clayton?"

"Not Clayton!" yelled Tarzan again. He held out his hand and a gust of wind shot from it. Kairi was knocked over onto her butt as Mr. Clayton's aim was thrown off. His gun moved up and went off, a bullet striking the wall next to Alice, causing the blonde girl to scream in surprise. Mr. Clayton took a step back to steady himself and tried to refocus on Tarzan, who was up and charging at him.

Kairi just stared in shock as the two tried to kill each other. She felt panic and helplessness running through her. Things were breaking down around her and she couldn't do anything to stop them. She couldn't even halt events so that she could figure out what was going on. All she needed was one moment, one moment without the insanity and they could talk this out. Kairi held up her hand as if the action could make Tarzan and Mr. Clayton stop fighting. She found herself yelling loudly. "Stop!"

A powerful gust of wind swept through the cave. It lifted both Mr. Clayton and Tarzan off of their feet, throwing them in different directions. Alice and Pluto gave simultaneous cries as the wind swept over them, lifting up Alice's skirt and ruffling Pluto's fur. Something large went tumbling and crashed down on the far side of the cave by Alice, kicking up a dust cloud around itself. Something flashed several times and a dark green form shimmered into view. It looked similar to a large chameleon but with larger hind legs. It stood up on its hind legs, shaking the dust off of it, its eyes rolling disconcertingly in its sockets. On its chest was a familiar black and red emblem, a Heartless.

Kairi stood up quickly and saw Tarzan and Mr. Clayton both standing shakily up, their hands gripped tightly around their weapon. Kairi tightened her grip on the Keyblade and balled her other fist up in frustration. "What is going on here?!" yelled Kairi, her voice echoing throughout the cave. Everyone stopped moving and just stared at her in astonishment, even the Heartless.

"We were just traveling through this cave looking for your friends when that…thing attacked us," replied Alice, eyeing the Heartless warily. Tarzan's been fighting it for quite a while with no luck. Are you here to save us?"

"I thought so," muttered Kairi. She looked over at Mr. Clayton whose expression was still neutral, showing no sign of emotion. "Mr. Clayton, why were you attacking Tarzan?"

"He refused to show us the gorillas," said Mr. Clayton simply. "We've been asking and asking but he's refused, no matter how nice we were or how much I tried to bribe or trick him. I'm fed up with it. As soon as I decided enough was enough that witch appeared, offering me a deal."

"A witch?" asked Kairi, confused. "What was the deal?"

"All I needed to do was bring her the girl, Alice," replied Mr. Clayton. "She was with Tarzan but the witch gave me the ability to summon that creature over there. It was able to find them. I can sense what it senses through a bond. I can feel the power welling up inside of me. The urgency to consume. I need to obey…"

"Mr. Clayton…," said Kairi sadly, taking a step towards him. Mr. Clayton raised his gun to face her, causing her to stop, her heart beating faster.

"No!" yelled Mr. Clayton. "I will be the greatest hunter in the world when I bring back all of those gorilla furs! No one will dare question me. To question us…"

Kairi heard an inhuman wail as the chameleon Heartless charged at her. She was unable to respond as it knocked her roughly to the side. Tarzan leapt up to help her but barely dodged himself as Mr. Clayton fired at him. The chameleon charged at Tarzan and he backed up slowly, fending it off with jabs from his spear.

Kairi stood up shakily and saw Mr. Clayton running over to where Alice was. He didn't even bother climbing, just leapt up with inhuman strength to the ledge in a single leap. Alice backed up with a gasp, bumping against the moist cave wall. Pluto moved in front of her, growling loudly at Mr. Clayton. Mr. Clayton pointed his gun at Pluto and she felt her heart sink.

"Don't do it Mr. Clayton!" yelled Kairi loudly. Instead of shooting Pluto Mr. Clayton just lashed out with a vicious kick. Pluto gave a whimper as he was flung off the ledge and to the hard ground below. Kairi and Alice both let out gasps, but Alice's was interrupted by Mr. Clayton grabbing her roughly by the arm.

"Let me go!" yelled Alice, struggling against his hold. She lashed out, clawing at him. Her nails raked against him arm and his face, drawing long black lines, darkness leaking out instead of blood. A dark portal opened up next to Mr. Clayton and with a quick toss he threw a screaming Alice through it. Without even looking over his shoulder he followed, the portal closing after him.

"No!" yelled Kairi, taking a step forward, tears coming to her eyes. She was brought back to reality as Tarzan came skidding across the ground next to her, halting the momentum from having been hit by the chameleon.

Kairi looked over at the Heartless, anger building up inside of her. She felt angry at it, for corrupting Mr. Clayton. She felt angry at Mr. Clayton for accepting such a deal. But mostly she just felt angry at herself for being unable to stop any of it and save Alice. To stop Pluto or Tarzan from being hurt. Kairi raised up the Keyblade in front of her and let out a furious shout.

"This is all your fault!" she yelled. The Heartless tried to charge at her but found itself unable to move as a gale whipped around it, holding it in place. Kairi looked over and saw Tarzan with his hand out, wind blowing from it. Kairi felt something warm building up inside of her. She remembered Leon's words suddenly, about how to use magic. Following them she swung with the Keyblade, a blade of light slashing out of it at the trapped Heartless. The light cleaved the Heartless in two, a pink heart flying out of the cave.

Kairi felt herself getting light headed. She tried to steady herself with the Keyblade but realized too late that she was still holding it in a backhand style. She toppled forward but was spared a hard landing by Tarzan who darted forward and grabbed her.

"Thank you," said Kairi weakly. She suddenly felt her strength returning and looked over to see a green light surrounding both her and Tarzan. Once her strength had returned Tarzan released her, smiling at her.

"Feeling good?" asked Tarzan.

"Yeah," said Kairi with a nod, a small smile on her face. "Feeling good."

Tarzan left her to walk over to Pluto. He knelt by the dog and green light surrounded him. A moment later Pluto was up and shaking himself off. Kairi ran over to the dog and pulled him into a tight hug, tears misting in her eyes.

"I'm so glad you're here and okay!" cried Kairi. When she let go of Pluto he licked her in the face with a yelp, causing her to let out a combination laugh/sob. She stood up and wiped her face clean with her torn shirt. She looked at Tarzan. "What now? Do you know a way to find Alice?"

Tarzan looked at her, tilting his head slightly. He gestured to her and started to walk off down a different tunnel in the cave than the one she'd entered through. Kairi and Pluto followed him down the long snaking tunnel, up several ledges and down another tunnel. Eventually they made it to a cave and dead ended. The cave was filled with a soft blue light as butterflies nested in larger numbers than Kairi had ever seen before. At their approach the butterflies took flight into the air and through an opening in the top of the cave that led outside. The stone they had been covering glowed with a soft blue light, a keyhole visible in the middle of it.

"What is this," asked Kairi, confused.

"Ooh uh," muttered Tarzan. Kairi looked at him confused and he spoke again. "Ooh uh. Heart."

"Heart?" asked Kairi. "This is a heart?"

"Heart," repeated Tarzan. "Friends. Al-ice. Hearts connect."

Realization dawned on Kairi. "Friends. Like Sora, Riku and Alice. Friends like you, Jane, Leon and Yuffie. They're all connected."

Tarzan nodded. He pointed to the keyhole again. "Friends. Heart."

"So you're saying that inside our hearts we're all connected?" asked Kairi. Tarzan just nodded again. "So…If I want to find them again, then I just can?"

"Yes," grunted Tarzan. He thumped his fist against his chest. "Heart!"

Kairi felt relief flooding her, a smile appearing on her face. Tears of joy flooded her eyes and she ran over to Tarzan, pulling him into a hug. The large man wrapped an arm gently holding her as she cried into his chest. When she was done he released her, smiling gently at her.

"Thank you, again," said Kairi, wiping away her tears. She looked back over at the glowing keyhole, something about it tugging at her. "So, this is a heart? The heart of what?"

"Heart," repeated Tarzan. "World heart."

"This is the heart of the world…," muttered Kairi in amazement. It occurred to her that other worlds had hearts too. The Heartless sought out the hearts of people, but what if that wasn't their only goal? What of they were looking for hearts like this one? The heart of a whole world. How could she protect something like that? The Keyblade tingled in her grip and she lifted it up. If seemed as if it was calling to the keyhole. On a hunch Kairi pointed the Keyblade at the keyhole. A light shot out of the Keyblade and went into the keyhole. A clicking sound rang through the cave and the keyhole disappeared. "Did I just lock it?"

Pluto gave a bark from behind her and she saw portal like the one Mr. Clayton had used, but glowing with the same soft blue light as the world's heart. Kairi felt it calling to her and knew deep inside it would take her to where she needed to go next.

Kair turned back to Tarzan, smiling sadly at him. "I need to go now."

Tarzan just nodded solemnly. He suddenly pulled her into a hug. When he released her he smiled at her and thumped his chest with his fist. "Heart. Connected. Friends."

Kairi smiled happily at him. "Yes, we're friends. We always will be. Thank you for everything!"

With that Kairi and Pluto stepped into the portal, light engulfing them and taking them to their next destination.


	5. Olympus Coliseum

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts

Please read and review, your feedback helps me to write better stories.

* * *

 _To study the Heartless behavior, I picked one out for observation. It wiggled its antennae and, as if sensing a target, headed deep into the castle. In the deepest part of the castle, its antennae began vibrating, as if searching for something. Suddenly, a strange door appeared. I'd never known of its existence._

 _It had a large keyhole, but didn't seem to be locked. So I opened the door. What I saw on the other side mystified me. What was that powerful mass of energy? That night I observed a great meteor shower in the sky. Could it be related to the door that I have opened?_

 _-Ansem's Report 5_

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Olympus Coliseum**

Kairi stepped out of the light and was greeted with yet another strange sight. They had been deposited in some type of enclosed courtyard. All around them were tall white walls and columns. Two large bronze statues of warriors, with swords held out to cross each other framed a large doorway. Behind them was a closed gate. There were several large bronze braziers dotted throughout the courtyard.

"Any clue where we are Pluto?" asked Kairi, looking down at her companion. He just shook his head. Kairi looked around once more, and not seeing any clues, decided all they could do was move forward. She had felt a sense of purpose in the light that had sent them here so she felt sure that there was in fact something here for them to find. Kairi walked across the courtyard, marveling at the statues and made it to the large wooden doors that were under the archway created by the statues. She pulled open one of the doors and walked inside, Pluto following behind.

They entered into a small, completely enclosed room, torches burning on the walls for illumination. Opposite where they had entered was a dark corridor that probably led off deeper into wherever they were. To Kairi's left was an alcove that held several large trophies of various shapes and sizes, commemorating events Kairi doubted she'd recognize. To her right was a similar alcove, bare of trophies but with a large white block of stone decorated with stylized clouds and lightning bolts. A person unlike any Kairi had ever seen before was working on something over by the block, muttering to themselves. They were short, almost half her height, with the lower body of some type of hooved animal, red fur covering from bottom to naval. The upper part was more similar to Kairi and made her think of a man, except that this one had small horns curving out of the top of his head.

Kairi walked over to the person to ask where she was and caught some of his mutterings. "Ugh, stupid Herc, leaving me to deal with cleaning this place up myself. I know I gave him a training schedule from Tartarus but ugh! And no new fighters have come to sign up, beyond those freaks that suddenly poured out of the woodworks. No new champion material if you ask me. We've been in a dry spell and all that…" muttered the man. Kairi waited for him to notice her standing behind him but realizing he was lost in his own world decided to speak up.

"Excuse me?" asked Kairi as politely as she could. The man didn't jump in surprise or turn to look at her, but his ears did prick up at the sound of her voice, showing he'd heard her. He lifted up a hairy arm and gestured lazily at her.

"Ah, good timing!" said the man, still concentrating on what Kairi saw was a notepad filled with writing from top to bottom. He pointed at the stone block. "Move this will you? I need to get this place spruced up for the games!"

"Uh…okay?" said Kairi, confused. She wondered if the man had confused her with someone else but since she was planning to ask him for help in figuring out where she was, she figured she could do him a favor. Kairi walked over to one side of the stone and tried to lift it, finding it, predictably, too heavy for her. She tried to push it and found that also wasn't working, the stone block not even budging when she put her whole weight into trying to move it. She stopped pushing and peeked around the block at the hooved man. "I can't move it, it's too heavy."

"Too heavy?" asked the man, sounding shocked and confused. He looked up at her, speaking while he did so. "What do you mean it's too heavy? Have you been slacking on your training Herc…"

The man caught sight of her and looked shocked by what he saw. Kairi just smiled and waved awkwardly from around the stone block. The man looked around and saw Pluto was just a few inches away from him, studying him in curiosity. The man gave a cry of surprise and stumbled backwards, landing on his butt, his notepad flying up into the air and landing, impaled, on his horns.

"Whoah!" cried the man. "Who are you two?"

"I'm Kairi," said Kairi. She pointed over to Pluto. "This is Pluto. We're travelers and I was wondering if you could please tell us where we are?"

"You don't know where you are?" asked the man incredulously. "Next thing you're going to say is that you have no clue who I am!"

"Um…" said Kairi, trying to figure out how to politely say she didn't know. The man interpreted her silence as what it was and his jaw dropped.

"I'm Phil! The great trainer of heroes around these parts!" cried Phil. "This is the Olympus Coliseum, home of the g\Games! People come from all across the land to compete in the Games to prove themselves true heroes! What part of the sticks are you from that you don't know that?"

"We're from quite far away…" replied Kairi, trying to keep her annoyance at Phil down. "So, this is where heroes come?"

"Correct! All the greatest fighters, warriors and adventurers from everywhere! Even the sticks!"

Something occurred to Kairi and she felt hope rising inside of her. "Have you seen two boys lately? A brown haired boy with a goofy smile named Sora or a silver haired boy with a serious face named Riku?" asked Kairi hopefully.

"Nope, never heard of them," replied Phil, casually dismissing the question with a wave of his hand. Kairi felt her spirits dropping and was only brought back to reality when Pluto licked her fingers. She smiled down at him and looked back at Phil.

"Okay then, I was just hoping someone had seen them. They're my friends and we were separated and I've been trying to find them. Our world was destroyed by the Heartless."

"The Heartless?" asked Phil, sounding confused. "Is that a band or something?"

"No, they're monsters," replied Kairi. "They're created from the darkness in people's hearts. They take various forms, but they commonly have an emblem on their chest that resembles a black and red heart."

Phil snapped his fingers in recognition. "Ah! You mean those shmucks Hades has been having me sign up for the Games lately! They don't talk, and can't fill out forms, the lazy bums! Worse, they're barely a challenge for Herc, so they haven't really spiced things up."

"Wait, you know someone who can easily destroy Heartless?" asked Kairi, surprised at Phils's casual attitude to the Heartless invading his world.

"Yeah, Hercules!" said Phil proudly. "He's the champion of the Games and my pride and joy! A true hero that Herc. I trained him myself you know."

Kairi felt herself getting excited again. Here was someone who could supposedly easily destroy Heartless and someone else who could train her to do the same. She smiled brightly down at Phil. "Could you please train me also?" asked Kairi excitedly.

Phil crossed his arms to form an X as he frowned at her. "No way!"

"Why not?" asked Kairi, distressed.

"I don't train little boys like you!"

"What?" asked Kairi, confused. "I'm a girl!"

"Sure you are," replied Phil, not sounding convinced. "With a body like that? I doubt it!"

"I'm wearing a skirt and no pants!" insisted Kairi, moving out from behind the stone. Phil just frowned at her, not seeming convinced. Kairi heard the door opening behind her and turned to see a large man with red hair and bright blue eyes walking into the room. He was wearing sandals and armor that included a stylized chest plate that ended in a short combat skirt. The new man was heavily muscled but it was because of the confidence which he held himself and the friendly smile he flashed her that she realized that she was looking at a true hero.

"I also wear a skirt and no pants," said the man with a friendly smile. "What's going on here Phil?"

"I'm just trying to convince the kid here that he doesn't have what it takes to earn my training!" said Phil. "Can you get 'im to scram Herc?"

Herc, or as Kairi realized the hero Hercules that Phil had been talking about, frowned slightly. "That seems to be an early dismissal of her Phil."

Phil shook his head. "I've got a sense of these things. There are heroes and there are those who need to be rescued, this kid is one of the latter."

"That's not very nice," chided Hercules.

Phil just shrugged. "Hey, don't blame me. Kid is practically drenched in 'damsel in distress' aura, if he was a girl it'd be for sure!"

"I am a girl!" yelled Kairi, tears coming to her eyes at the harsh words. The worst part was that she wasn't sure she could disagree with any of them. She'd seemed fated to lose and needing to be rescued since she'd started her adventure.

Phil seemed to think he'd gone too far by this point and hastily tried to comfort her. "Hey, hey! No need to cry! I didn't mean anything by it. If you say you're a girl, then you're a girl! Sorry!"

Hercules knelt down next to Kairi and put a hand gently on her shoulder. "Hey, there's no need for that. I think you do have the chance to be a great hero."

"Really?" asked Kairi, knowing that Hercules was probably just pandering to her, but wanting to hear the words anyways.

"Really," replied Hercules. He smiled at her. "And I'll prove it by training you myself!"

"Wait, what?!" asked Phil. "You can't do that! You need to focus on staying in shape for the games!"

Hercules smiled at Phil. "I doubt I'll go out of shape that quickly. Plus you were the one who told me no one was near my level lately, so I doubt I'll need to worry about losing unless you were wrong."

"Me, wrong? Never!" cried Phil.

"Then we're good," replied Hercules. He stood up and held his hand out to Kairi. "I don't think I've introduced myself yet. I'm Hercules."

Kairi took his hand and shook it, a crackle of electricity running between their grasp, surprising her slightly. She wiped away her tears with the back of her free hand. "I'm Kairi."

"Nice to meet you Kairi. Who's your companion here?"

"This is Pluto," replied Kairi.

"Hello Pluto," replied Hercules, scratching the excited dog behind the ears.

"So, you'll really train me?" asked Kairi.

"Of course!" said Hercules proudly. "A hero never goes back on his word!"

"Thank you so much…" said Kairi, feeling her spirits rising.

"Now don't get too carried away!" interrupted Phil. "Can you even fight?"

"Not too well," admitted Kairi.

"That's no problem," said Hercules. "What weapons do you know how to use?"

"Only this," said Kairi, holding out her hand. The Keyblade appeared in her hand, drawing surprised looks from Phil and Hercules.

"She's got one of those?" asked Phil.

"I haven't seen a weapon like that for a long time…" commented Hercules. He looked at Kairi. "Do you know someone named Terra? He was a champion at the Games many years ago when I was a kid. He used a weapon just like that.

Kairi shook her head. "I don't recognize that name. The Keyblade just appeared to me the day that my island was destroyed by the Heartless."

Hercules considered her words. "You sound like you've been through a lot. How about we sit down, eat something, and you can tell me about all you've gone through. Then maybe we'll know where to start with training you."

* * *

Soon they were seated in the empty stands of the coliseum arena, eating sandwiches made of a rounded bread Hercules called pita. They'd opened up the bread and put in all types of things Kairi didn't recognize in it but it tasted good and was filling so she enjoyed it. It also gave her something else to focus on as she told, in between bites what she'd been through. She talked about everything; building the raft, the destruction of the island and separation from her friends, waking up in Traverse Town and the people she'd met there, stumbling into Wonderland and its eventual destruction, meeting Tarzan, failing to save Alice and the locking of the keyhole. She left out the part where she'd fought the shadow Sora and been saved by the cloaked figure though. It had all been a dream but she felt uncomfortable thinking about the meeting and the harsh truths the shadow had spoken of. Pluto just napped next to her, occasionally twitching in contentment when she scratched behind his ears.

When she was done Hercules just looked at her for a moment, studying her. Then without warning he put a hand gently on top of her head and pat her head. "You've done a very good job so far, you should be proud."

Kairi felt tears coming to her eyes. "But I failed, repeatedly. If it had been Sora or Riku, they could have saved the Island and Wonderland…" she said sadly.

"Maybe," replied Hercules. "But maybe not. You don't know if someone could have done a better job, and regardless, they weren't the one there for all of this, you were. Trust me, I know how it feels to fail, and to fail spectacularly knowing inside you've let people down. The secret I've discovered is you can't let it get you down. You have to stand back up and continue to try your hardest. You were unprepared for what you faced before, now you won't be. Got it?"

"Got it," said Kairi, nodding in acknowledgement.

Phil had been quietly eating a large salad up to this point but now he spoke, his mouth still partially full. "This is nice and all, but where do you plan to start with training her? The kid has absolutely no foundation beyond having that weird weapon. She has no strength, no agility, no techniques and no fighting style. She has no clue how to use magic beyond the fact that she apparently cast a spell once. Worse, she's walking around in a torn up skirt and shirt with more holes in it than her current training regime. She's definitely no hero right now."

Hercules jumped to his feet and smiled brightly at them. "Then we'll just have to fix all of that, now won't we?"

Before anything more could be said, a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky and struck the ground next to Hercules. Phil and Kairi both cried out in surprise, jumping slightly. Hercules didn't even flinch, just staring at the scorched ground as if he'd seen such a thing hundreds of times before. Pluto just sniffed the air, seemingly intrigued by the smell.

"Hm, it's a message," commented Hercules, looking at the strange characters Kairi saw had been scorched into the ground. Phil peeked over from where he was huddled in the stands, scowling.

"Don't tell me it's from those yahoos up above," grumbled Phil.

"Who?" asked Kairi, confused.

"The gods up on Mount Olympus," replied Hercules, pointing to a tall mountain that overlooked the coliseum. "They're ruled by the god Zeus."

"Yeah, your old man does such a bang up job of stopping them from messing things up," muttered Phil. Kairi could only stare at Hercules in surprise.

"You're a god?" asked Kairi, shocked. Hercules had seemed pretty incredible but very human and approachable, not anything like what she imagined a god had to be like.

"Not quite," replied Hercules with an awkward smile. "I was born to the gods Zeus and Hera but as a child my immortality was taken away by Hades, the god of the Underworld. It doesn't feel very heroic to admit it, but part of the reason I'm trying to be a true hero is that that's the only way to regain my godhood and my home back on Mount Olympus."

"Ain't nobody have a more heroic heart than you!" said Phil. Hercules smiled gratefully at him.

"Thank you Phi," said Hercules.

"I don't think having a reason to be a hero would make you any less of one if you helped people," said Kairi. "I'd like to be able to jump into danger without fear and to be able to save people…"

Well, that's what we're here to fix!" said Hercules. He looked sternly at Kairi and wagged a finger at her. "Being a hero is not about being without fear though. It's working through that fear. Too much or too little fear can make someone stupid, and stupid heroes make mistakes."

"Okay," replied Kairi, nodding in understanding at his words. Her gaze moved back to the still smoking symbols on the ground. "What did the message say?"

"Oh, that. The gods like to observe the coliseum in their free time and some of them seem to have taken a liking to you. They're offering, well demanding, that they get to design your new hero outfit."

"My hero outfit?" asked Kairi, confused.

"Yeah, your current clothes aren't really that good for hero stuff," admitted Hercules. "I agree that you should probably get some new clothes, your current ones are a bit torn up."

Kairi looked down and realized Hercules was right. Her shirt and short skirt were both torn in several places. In addition they didn't really lend themselves to protecting her, which made sense since they were for comfort on an island, not an adventure across worlds. Her arms where they were unprotected had small, thin silvery lines that had appeared where she'd been cut or scratched and then healed. Tarzan was a good healer, but apparently healing without scaring was not a talent of his.

She looked back up at Hercules. "They'd do that for me?" she asked.

"Of course," said Hercules with a smile. "Hephaestus is the God of the Forge and even said he'd work on making a full set of armor for you, although that might take a while. Until then they're willing to design and create some clothes for you that will offer more protection than what you currently have."

"Why are they willing to help me like this?" asked Kairi. She heard Phil make a noise behind her.

"It's not like they have anything better to do," he grumbled.

Hercules just ignored his mentor and answered Kairi's question directly. He leaned down and whispered in her ear, supposedly so that the god's couldn't overhear him. "They took an interest in your story. They weren't exactly descriptive and a lot of this is guess work but I bet they all have their separate reasons. Hephaestus just likes making armor for those who he thinks could become great heroes. Nothing makes him happier. Aphrodite, the God of Love and Hephaestus's wife, likes to help out young women to reach their potential. This, uh, doesn't always end well, but she tries, I guess. The other two are harder for me to guess. Athena, the God of Wisdom, probably knows something that she's not told anyone else and sees this as the best path to take. The last one, Aries, the God of War, probably just knows Athena has her reasons and wants to mess with them slightly. He probably wants to claim he helped you in whatever endeavor you'll do, for the bragging rights. And he might just be a little bored, since things have been so calm lately."

Kairi's head spun as she tried to process all of this information but eventually decided to not think too hard about it all. She shook her head to clear her mind and chase away worries and needless thoughts. She looked up at Hercules. "So, where do we start?"

The start turned out to be going into a locker room at changing out of her old clothes and into a new outfit that appeared out of thin air. Kairi had been asked first if she had any preferences or features she wanted to be a part of the clothes. She'd replied that she didn't really know and would try anything. She just wanted it to be comfortable.

What this translated to start was a small sports bra and the most comfortable pair of underwear she'd ever worn. They were both plain white with no adornments and fit perfectly. Kairi wasn't exactly sure if she should feel pleased or slightly creeped out that the gods apparently knew her measurements. What came next was a pair of tan pants with a light purple stripe running down the outer side of each framed by thin lines of dark purple. There was a zipper running around each leg just below the knees, allowing them to become shorts if she wanted. She found while thinking about trying them as shorts that with a thought they unzipped themselves and the spare legging disappeared, also reappearing on mental commend. Eventually she decided to leave the legs on, noting the lines of silvery scars running down her legs from all the falling and walking through forests and jungles she'd done the past few days.

Next appeared a pair of shoes that were dyed a deep purple and had a thin metal plate attached to the front of each. She stared at them in confusion briefly but putting them on she found they also fit perfectly and were comfortable to wear, if slightly awkward to walk in since they were new. She was surprised to find that next she was given a shirt that looked exactly like her old sleeveless shirt, except that it was repaired and showed no sign of wear and tear.

She then put on a pair of tan, fingerless gloves which bugged her as being familiar in some way she couldn't remember. She found her wayfinder next in the pile of clothes, strung on a metal chain to allow her to wear it around her neck. She looked around for the bell she'd had or her black collar, but she couldn't find either. Like her old clothes they had apparently disappeared when she'd taken them off and put them down on the bench. She wondered if the gods had reasons for not giving them back or just had a different idea of fashion than she did.

Lastly appeared a long sleeved tan jacket with zippers running just above the elbow like with the pants. What surprised her were the patterns sewed into the jacket. Someone had sewed a blue and white striped heart, a green tree complete with treehouse, Leon's red angel wings design, a black shuriken and even a silhouette of Pluto onto random places on the jacket. Flipping it around she saw directly on the back a pair of crossed Keyblades, one the regular Keyblade, the other a version with black instead of gold for the handle. On one side was the strange Keyblade she'd seen wielded by the cloaked figure in her dream. On the other side of the crossed Keyblades was a fourth one in blue and greys that was of a design she was pretty sure she'd never seen before but seemed familiar anyways. Right above the Keyblades was an island silhouette that she knew must represent the Destiny Islands. Below the Keyblades was a castle surrounded by flowers, also hauntingly familiar.

Kairi stared at the jacket for quite a while, trying to comprehend every detail of the jacket. After failing to figure out the purpose of the patches, especially the ones on the back, she just gave a little mental shrug. The design was interesting and didn't detract from anything, so there was no use worrying about what it all meant. She'd gotten the jacket from gods after all, either they knew much more than she did or they just had a weird sense of humor. She slipped on the jacket, living it hanging open, unzipped. The whole outfit felt much different than what she was used because of how much it covered. She wondered if the cloth would really protect her or if it was destined to get shredded to bits the next time she fought someone. Hercules had said something about armor and she wondered if she'd even still be in the Coliseum when it was completed. She hadn't spent a lot of time on each world so far, she wondered if she'd actually spend a full day in the coliseum this time.

She looked over into the locker that the clothes had been appearing in and saw something lying at the bottom. She knelt down and picked up the pink ribbon she'd gotten in Wonderland. She stared at it briefly before wrapping it loosely around her right arm above the jacket. Ready in her new clothes she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Kairi shut the locker, seeing her name etched on a plate attached to it. She walked out of the locker room and into the arena. Hercules and Phil were standing in the arena, talking. Pluto was walking around, nose to the ground and sniffing every inch of the place. Hercules was the first to notice her and turned to smile at her.

"Looking good," said Hercules. Kairi could help but smile at the compliment.

"It makes her look even more like a boy," commented Phil, leading to Kairi sticking her tongue out rather childishly at him. He just replied with a scowl. Hercules started to laugh, apparently amused by the exchange.

"Let it drop Phil," he said.

"Fine, whatever you say Herc," said Phil. "I'm not sure how practical the outfit is though, she's struggling a bit walking if you haven't noticed."

"I'm not really used to them yet," admitted Kairi.

"We can ask for another pair of clothes if these don't work out for some reason," replied Hercules. "The gods are generally reasonable. We'll run training exercises and hopefully you'll get used to them soon enough. More importantly though is to drill the basics of combat into you, but that'll be helped if you can move in your battle clothes."

"Is it really fine to fight in these?" asked Kairi, voicing her concern.

"Yeah," replied Hercules. "Those clothes are enchanted. They won't offer quite as much protection as armor would, but they allow you for a lot more range of motion. When you get used to armor you can move in it almost as easily, but at this point it would be overkill. Plus yours is still being worked on, so that'll have to wait. Again, we'll just tackle the basics."

"Why don't you wear armor?" asked Kairi, blushing slightly. "Well, more armor."

Hercules just flashed her another smile. "I kept some of my godly powers. I'm stronger and tougher than any mortal. This means I can take hits that might kill someone and be perfectly fine. I don't really need the armor, but it does offer protection for anything vital that isn't my head, and that's harder than even the rest of me."

Phil cut in at that moment. "It's also for some showmanship and a tactic to throw people off guard. They expect a fully armored warrior, not someone proudly showing off a godly physique."

"There's that," admitted Hercules. "Now, I guess the first thing to figure out is your strengths and weaknesses. Let's run through some light exercises and an obstacle course."

Kairi was distressed to find out that Hercules' idea of 'light exercise' was running around the circumference of the Coliseum which was much, much larger and contained more arenas than she'd thought. She was panting heavily a quarter of the way through and collapsed completely on the ground three-fourths of the way around. After allowing her to rest Hercules had her hit dummies and targets with magic, the Keyblade and her fists. This last one was delayed as Hercules had to stop to show her how to properly make a fist. She tried to kick at the dummies also but found they lacked in any strength and she couldn't kick very high. She'd also only managed to fire a single blast of fire which had gone astray and lit Phil's tail on fire, prompting Hercules to run after, and extinguish his rather miffed mentor.

Test after test went by and Kairi felt like her failures would never end. Finally though the sun was edging around the horizon and Hercules called an end to things.

"That's the last one," he said, walking over to her after she'd landed on her butt after trying to see how far she could jump. "Good job today."

He extended his hand down to her and she took it, standing up with his help and feeling sore all over. "It feels hopeless that I could become a hero," said Kairi, voicing the fear she'd nursed all day.

Hercules just frowned at her. "That's nonsense."

"Is it?" asked Kairi angrily. "What part of the tests you ran today show that I could be a hero?"

"It's not about the tests," replied Hercules. "It's about your heart, and you have the heart of a hero."

"If only I had the body of one…," grumbled Kairi.

"Body isn't all there is to it," said Hercules. "If you have the body but no heart, then you'll never become a true hero. But if you have the heart, then you can get the body. It might take time, and it might seem like it'll never happen, but trust me, it will."

"But you have both," whined Kairi.

"Yes, I was born strong and tough, but I wasn't really hero material. I was actually a walking disaster, and without being able to control my strength regularly caused damage to property and unfortunately to a few people. I wanted to be a hero, but I didn't really have a reason beyond getting home to Olympus. Eventually I realized that my home was here, with the mortals who'd raised and trained me. It was my duty to protect them with my strength from those who would cause them harm. I fight in the Coliseum to strengthen myself and to inspire others."

Kairi felt ashamed by her outburst and looked down at her feet instead of meeting Hercules's eyes. She'd made an assumption about him and had been wrong. "Is there ever a time you felt you weren't strong enough?" asked Kairi.

"All the time," admitted Hercules, putting a hand on Kairi's shoulder and causing her to look up at him. "But even then I persevered. One time I was in a slump and Phil was threatening to stop training me to focus on a promising new fighter named Zack. Zack and I were scheduled to fight in the semi-finals of a tournament, and the winner would be trained by Phil. I didn't know how to prepare without Phil and ended up getting training from a wandering young man named Ventus. He wielded a Keyblade like you and helped me to train. When the time came to fight Zack, a large group of monsters attacked the coliseum. Ventus promised to hold them off so that Zack and I could fight properly, since he knew how much the fight meant to both of us. When I was standing in the ring though something occurred to me and I ran out of the match and went to help Ventus, dropping the match."

"So Phil ended up training Zack?" asked Kairi. Hercules just gave an amused smile and shook his head.

"Zack actually ran directly after me, helping Ventus and I. He technically won the match because I left first, but Phil decided to train me because I was the first to rush to the aid of a friend. If my heart had delayed any longer, Zack might be the one training you here today. But it didn't, and that was and is still the greatest strength I've learned as a hero."

Kairi, looked up at Hercules in amazement and respect and realized that he was the type of hero she wanted to be. A question occurred to her. "What happened to Zack? And Ventus? Are they still at the Coliseum?"

Hercules got a far off look on his face as if looking into the past. "I don't know what happened to Zack. We trained together for a while but one day he just disappeared without a trace. Ventus went on somewhere else, he was looking for a friend of his, a man named Terra who won the tournament that I forfeited. I don't know what happened to him either, he's never returned. I ask travelers about both Zack and Ventus, but no one has heard anything. Sometimes I consider going out to look for them but I don't know where I'd start."

"If I come across them while I'm traveling I'll make sure and come back and tell you, okay?" said Kairi.

"Thank you. Are you planning on leaving the coliseum for somewhere soon?"

"I want to stay and train with you," replied Kairi, "but I also need to find my friends, Riku, Sora and Alice. I guess its possible Riku and Sora could end up here, but I'm not sure."

"Well, if they come here I'll tell them you're looking for them," said Hercules with a smile. "And I'll tell you when I see you again."

"Thank you."

"Now, let's get some sleep. We have a long day of training ahead of us tomorrow."

"Okay."

* * *

In the morning training continued. It just included a large amount of basic stretches and exercises like push-ups, laps and weights. The training was much more bearable than it had been the day before and Kairi realized that Hercules had tailored the training based on what he had tested the day before. She was still sore from the day before though and by mid-day she was ready to collapse again. They switched over from physical training to magical training. Hercules gave her a lecture on how to use magic similar to the quick run through Leon had given her, although much more useful. He'd also shown her how he called down lightning and about different types of magic.

"Everyone has an affinity for one or more types of magic," Hercules said, sounding like he was repeating a lecture he'd heard before, probably from Phil. "I have an affinity for lightning for example."

"So you can't use fire magic?" asked Kairi, trying to keep up.

"I can," replied Hercules, bringing a small flame to light in the palm of his hand. He squeezed his fist shut and snuffed out the flame. "But since I don't have an affinity and I'm not really a mage, just a fighter who uses magic, that's about all I can manage."

"Do you have any other affinities?" asked Kairi. "Or do you only use lightning?"

"I also have an affinity for light magic," said Hercules.

"Light magic? What do you do with that?"

"Mostly I make shields that make me invulnerable briefly, even more so than usual. I can also extend the shield into a dome to protect others or cause a short range flare that damages my enemies." To demonstrate Hercules ran through the techniques, making a glowing skintight shield, followed by a dome and ended when he caused a burst of light to fill the dome.

"Cool," muttered Kairi, impressed. "How do I tell what types of magic I have an affinity for, or if I'm even suited for magic?"

"Magic is like a muscle," explained Hercules. "Some people might be born with a natural inclination for it or even a greater capacity to raise it, but everyone can stretch, work and train it. It really depends on if you want to or not. On the other hand, finding out your affinity can be slightly harder. Usually you have to test through all types to figure things out, but if you have an affinity it'll generally come to you naturally. Have you found any types of magic have come to you more easily that others?"

Kairi thought back on the two instances she'd used magic before coming to the coliseum. The first had been a wind that had stopped Clayton and the second time had been against the Chameleon Heartless, a blade of light that had cleaved it in half.

"I think I might have an affinity for wind and light magic," replied Kairi hesitantly.

"Great!" said Hercules. "We'll practice with those two then and see if anything else comes up."

Despite the amount of time they spent working on magic for the rest of the day, Kairi didn't manage any fancy attacks like before. Hercules mostly had her tapping into both types of magic and remembering how they felt. He had her hold onto the magic for a while, creating a small ball of wind or light in the palm of her hand for an hour each. Both tasks were extremely difficult but she managed, feeling light headed and drained by the end of the day. To practice Hercules also had her try the same with a ball of fire but she could barely hold onto or tap into the fire magic.

"And that's what the difference between an affinity and another type of magic feels like," said Hercules, apparently having been expecting her failure.

Soon they were done for the day and Kairi turned into the room she was borrowing, falling asleep as soon as she hit the bed.

The next several days went much the same, conditioning in the morning and magic training in the afternoon. After a few days Kairi was starting to get used to everything and starting to feel slightly more confident in what she could do, although frustrated that she hadn't really learned how to fight yet. Hercules started to include lessons on dodging various attacks or obstacles that pushed Kairi's budding abilities to the limit. She started to be able to send out a focused blast of wind and make a shield of light, although both weak and not for long. This helped to boost her confidence, and earned some praise from Hercules and a grudging smile from Phil when he thought she wasn't looking.

After a week Hercules started to cut down on the conditioning and instead started to introduce her to actual fighting techniques.

"So, first things first," said Hercules one morning after Kairi cooled down after the morning training. "We need to figure out how you're going to fight. I'm assuming you're going to use your Keyblade?"

"I was planning on it," said Kairi, summoning the weapon. It felt weird in her hand after so many days without wielding it, both lighter and heavier than she'd remembered it. "Do you know anything about fighting with one?"

"A little bit," admitted Hercules. "I've seen three different people use them, one who used strong, aggressive physical attacks, a second warrior who used quick strikes in combination with lots of jumping and dodging, and then a third who used a more balanced style that combined magic into things. The nice thing about the Keyblade is its versatility and varying abilities. Interestingly, each Keyblade I've seen looks shockingly different. Now, do you have any preferences?"

Kairi had been thinking back on her adventure so far and what had worked best and had come to the conclusion in the last few days of what she was going to ask Hercules if he could train her it. She was slightly embarrassed as she went to ask though, feeling silly for such a request. She flipped the Keyblade in her hand into a backhand style like the one from her dream. "Actually, I was wondering if you could train me how to fight like this?"

Hercules's eyes widened slightly as she asked. "You want to use a backhand style?"

"Correct," said Kairi, feeling her face blushing red in embarrassment.

"Have you ever seen someone use it before?"

"Briefly," admitted Kairi. "Someone saved me once, using a Keyblade and a style like that. When I was in the Jungle I tried it out and found it seemed to work. Can you train me in it?"

"I can," replied Hercules. "I've seen someone use it before. His name was Ventus, the friend I mentioned before. What type of Keyblade did this person who saved you have? What did he look like?"

"I don't know what he looked like," replied Kairi, shaking her head. "They were covered from head to toe in a cloak. Their Keyblade had a broken heart for the teeth and had an angel wing design throughout."

"That's not what Ven's Keyblade looked like," said Hercules with a sigh. "I wonder if he changed his Keyblade or if it was just someone else?"

"I don't know," said Kairi, feeling like she'd failed her mentor. Hercules just flashed her a smile.

"Hey, it's okay. No reason to get depressed. We're going to start with swinging the Keyblade back and forth to get used to the motions. One hundred repetitions for each direction. Ready? Swing!"

Kairi then spent the rest of the day swinging the Keyblade, stopping briefly to practice magic before continuing with more drills. Her arms were dead tired by the end and she just wanted to sleep. Phil came into the arena briefly and made a comment about her form. She corrected what she was doing and found that it was much easier his way. When she went to thank him though he had disappeared to somewhere else.

The next day she did it all again, wondering if she was ever going to get to fighting or just practicing the rest of her life. They ended early both to give Kairi a chance to rest a bit and because Hercules had a practice match he needed to compete in. Kairi watched from the stands as Hercules fought with, and defeated spectacularly a giant boar with tusks like spears. Phil was animatedly yelling instructions and encouragement to Hercules and was the loudest when he defeated the boar. Kairi was impressed by the fight and vowed to try that much harder.

The day after the same thing happened. Kairi learned that the next tournament was approaching and Hercules was to compete as the champion against whoever emerged victorious from the brackets. This was apparently his way of training and building up excitement in the ever growing crowd for what was to come. He took on a pair of lions, a swordsman with a strange style and even various types of Heartless, emerging victorious with practiced ease from each.

After a training session one day Kairi looked up at Hercules and asked him if she could enter the tournament.

"You want to enter?" he asked, seeming at first surprised and then amused.

"Yeah."

"I'm not sure you're ready for that yet," said Hercules thoughtfully. "The tournaments are usually very intense, although they do vary based on who's competing each year. You just started learning to fight, so it might be too early for you. Although I guess on the other hand it could be good practice to watch and compete in some actual fights. Plus the fights are safe and non-lethal."

"So is that a yes?" asked Kairi excitedly.

"I'll think about it depending on how your training goes the next few days," promised Hercules with a smile. Kairi felt excited and worried about the prospect of competing in the tournament. She had a hard time falling asleep that night, her mind buzzing with various scenarios both good and bad. She fell asleep to one where she got to the end and took on Hercules in combat. In the stands she heard Sora, Riku and Alice yelling her name, cheering her on. As the dream went on she realized that someone else was watching. They were a cloaked figure, the only identifying mark a Keyblade with a broken heart design for the teeth.

* * *

Kairi dove into her training with renewed spirit, trying to prove to Hercules that she could compete. She started to lightly spar against him, finding herself losing but slowly getting used to combat. So it was, just before the start of the tournament that Kairi waited excitedly for Hercules to pass judgement.

"So, can I compete?"

I don't know," said Hercules slowly and rather theatrically. "You're still new to the hero business. What do you say Phil?"

"I'd say she's green," replied Phil, standing next to Hercules and hopelessly short next to the tall hero. "Her form is still sloppy, magic is rough, she tires easily and honestly I think she's unlikely to win." Suddenly a mischievous smile flashed onto her previously serious face. "But she's got heart, and talent, I'll give her that. She might not win, but I think she'll do good."

"Really?" asked Kairi excitedly.

"Really," said Phil. "Not really hero material, almost junior hero material though, so that's not bad."

"Junior hero?" asked Kairi incredulously. "What's a junior hero? Are you making that up?"

"Of course not!" insisted Phil. "It's what the rookies pass through before they become heroes! I've trained countless of heroes, I know what I'm talking about!"

Hercules was just standing next to them, laughing as Kairi and Phil glared at each other, neither wavering. After a few minutes of their stare down both competitors started to laugh, filling the stadium with their excitement.

Way too soon it was the day of the tournament and Kairi felt her heart pounding in her chest. She was glad that she wasn't first, but as she saw the first few fights happen she felt like she probably wasn't ready. Phil and Hercules were nothing but encouragement and last minute advice though.

"Remember, if you get in to trouble, just follow these two simple words: dodge!" advised Phil.

"That's just one word," said Kairi.

"I'm the trainer here!" retorted Phil. "Just follow it and you'll be fine."

"Can I attack?"

"Of course you can attack! This is a fight."

"But you just said to only dodge."

"Only do so if you're in trouble!"

"So I shouldn't dodge unless in trouble and not attack when in trouble?"

"No no no!" yelled Phil. "Do both all the time!"

"But you just said…"

"Don't worry about it," said Hercules with a smile. "Just keep calm, stay focused and watch your opponent closely. This is your first tournament, there's no shame in losing, and you just need to try your best."

"Try my best, got it," said Kairi just as much to herself as to Hercules and Phil. Pluto came up next to her, rubbing against her. She reached down and scratched behind his ears, happy for the encouragement. She heard cheering from the arena as the current fight finished, signaling that it was her turn. She took a deep breath, waved to her friends and walked into the arena.

Kairi's opponents for this round was a group of Heartless, as teams were allowed to enter in the current tournament. The appeared in the arena out of dark portals, drawing excited cheers from the crowd. Kairi closed her eyes and held out her hand. The Keyblade appeared in it, drawing the crowd's excitement from the Heartless to her. She opened her eyes and fell into a combat stance, waiting for the fight to start. The announcer introduced Kairi and the Heartless team, Dark Blitz and started the countdown. When the countdown hit one, Kairi flew into action.

There were three enemies on Dark Blitz, one of the blue monkey Heartless she'd seen in the Jungle and two shadows. Kairi ran quickly towards one of the shadows and attacked with a chain of two quick strikes, knocking the Heartless back and out of the fight. She turned to face the two remaining enemies and found the monkey Heartless swinging at her from closer than she'd expected. It was quick but she managed to dodge to the side. A second strike followed quickly after but she blocked it, taking a step backwards as she did. A third strike, then a fourth, both blocked. On the forth one, instead of stepping backwards Kairi planted her back foot and lashed out with a side kick, moving the monkey back slightly. She stepped forward into that opening and chained together four quick strikes, taking out the monkey Heartless also.

Unfortunately, she'd been so caught up in that fight that she'd forgotten that the second shadow was still around until it came out of the ground to her right a slash at her with its claws. Kairi gave a grunt as the attack hit her, knocking her down. Luckily her new clothes protected her from anything besides a bruise. She quickly jumped to her feet and took back up a fighting stance like she'd practiced, making a mental note to ask Hercules how to best thank the gods for their gifts. The shadow jumped up at her and Kairi swung out with a battle cry. The Keyblade struck the shadow in mid-air and sent it flying, tumbling to the ground.

Kairi just stared in surprise as the announcer cried her victory, a loud cheer erupting from the crowd as he did so. Kairi felt her face blush bright red in embarrassment and slunk off the stage as quickly as she could. She didn't have any time to cool off though as Pluto came bounding up to her, tackling her to the ground and licking her face.

"Hey!" giggled Kairi, trying to fend off the happy dog. "Get off! Hahaha! Help!"

"That's enough Pluto," grinned Hercules, gently lifting the dog off of Kairi. He extended his other hand to Kairi and she took it, standing up. "Good job out there."

"Thank you," said Kairi, feeling herself blushing again.

"Yeah, that was a very good show for our up and coming junior Hero," smirked Phil. Kairi just stuck her tongue out at him in response. Phil just ignored her and continued talking. "You got a little too focused on one enemy at a time but otherwise your form was decent and you took out your enemies quickly. But don't get too cocky kid, things will just get harder from here on out."

"Got it," replied Kairi seriously, nodding in understanding. This earned a small, proud smile from Phil.

"Just rest up for your next match, things will be speeding up from here," cautioned Hercules.

Kairi strode into the arena once more, Keyblade in hand already. Her opponents, a group of Heartless named Magic Storm, appeared in the arena. There were nine of them this time, all the magic shooting jar-like Heartless she'd meant before. She quickly identified three fire types, three blizzard types and three thunder types. When the announcer cried the battle to start Kairi rushed into action, planning on taking out the thunder types first. She dodged around two bolts of lightning that fell from the sky, impacting where she had just been standing. She leapt up at the thunder types, trying to take several of them out but was hit by a chunk of ice that sent her tumbling to the ground. She rolled quickly to the side as a blast of fire struck where she'd been laying. She jumped to her feet and rolled away from another chunk of ice. Sadly she rolled into a blast of fire, crying out in surprise and pain.

Kairi backed away as quickly from her enemies as she could, lashing out blindly with the Keyblade trying to keep away enemies and attacks. Her heart was beating rapidly and she felt panic enveloping her. There were so many enemies and she couldn't get close to any of them. They were covering all gaps with magical attacks. Plus she'd remembered how quickly the jar Heartless could move and wasn't sure she could hit them if she didn't catch them standing still in the middle of an attack. She knocked away a chunk of ice but cried out in surprise as a lightning bolt struck right next to her, singing her clothes.

Kairi realized she needed to attack from a distance but wasn't sure how. Hercules had taught her two long range attacks, one was using magic to shoot a blast of wind that didn't do too much damage and the other was a strike raid, an attack where she threw the Keyblade and used its unique properties to return it to her hand. Her accuracy and speed for her strike raid weren't that great and if she used the wind she'd need to follow quickly with an attack and if she failed to take any out she'd be right in the middle of a magical barrage.

An idea occurred to Kairi as she continued to back up, the Heartless closing in on her. She held the Keyblade up in the stance to throw it for a strike raid and just held it at the ready. She closed her eyes and gathered up all the magic she could. Kairi drew on the magic and focused it all into the Keyblade. She opened her eyes, saw the enemies were starting to spread out and threw the Keyblade. Wind shot out of the blade as it flew parallel to the ground. A tornado formed around the Keyblade, one much larger than Kairi had planned on. It sucked all of the Heartless into itself, spinning them roughly around; into each other and into the Keyblade itself. The tornado ran into the magical shield that was in place around the arena and broke apart. The Keyblade fell to the ground but Kairi called it back to her hand before it struck. All of the Heartless fell to the ground, unconscious and defeated. Another cheer erupted from the crowd and Kairi gave a small smile. She'd used more energy than she'd thought and was too tired to feel embarrassed. She barely made it out of the arena without collapsing to the ground. She was glad for the long break given to the fighters as she rested, sipping an elixir Phil had given her.

Kairi tried not to think too hard about the fact that she'd already won two of her fights and that if she won two more she'd be fighting Hercules, the hero who'd trained her. She was pretty sure from watching him fight that she couldn't beat him but some part of her was excited to try. She tried not to think about it all for two reasons though. The first was that she would get excited and have a hard time focusing if she did. The other was that she would get anxious and have a hard time focusing. These two feelings rotated in her, taking turns when she thought too hard, sometimes even trying to be noticed at the same time, making her heart beat wildly.

So Kairi stuffed away her fears and dreams and focused on the enemy in front of her. She was currently facing a Heartless team called Lost Kingdom. There were three shadows, one of the large Heartless she'd encountered before, two of the soldiers and two of the green jars. The green jars were the healers so she'd gone after them first. She'd leapt over the rest of the enemies to defeat one and had used a strike raid to take out the second. She hadn't exactly landed with grace but she'd landed on her feet and summoned the Keyblade back to her hand, now behind the enemies.

Kairi charged up a wind raid, her new name for her wind powered strike raid, and thrown it at the slowly rotating Heartless giant. This wind strike had less power in it so it didn't suck up the other Heartless but it did strike and carry the large Heartless across the arena, depositing it in a heap there. She called back the Keyblade and parried an attack from one of the soldiers, striking back and defeating it with three quick strikes. The second soldier barreled into her, knocking her away where she barely managed to land on her feet. It moved to attack her once more and she dodged to the side, using a blast of wind to send it into the arena's shield which was just a few feet away. The shield didn't damage fighters, but it was a solid wall and the relative closeness and force of the wind blast sent the soldier into it rather hard. It collapsed to the ground, defeated.

Kairi got a shield of light up as two of the shadows struck at her simultaneously. The shield stopped the attacks easily but was strained by a quick follow up from the third one as it leapt over its allies and struck at her. She let the shield drop and struck with two quick strikes at the third shadow, taking it out. She leapt over an attack from one of the shadows and came down hard on the second one, hammering it with the Keyblade. With that one defeated she turned to the last shadow and struck it down with a chain of three strikes.

Kairi took a deep breath, glad that it was all over. Instead of the cheer of victory though she heard something else, the heavy pounding of feet. Kairi barely got her light shield up as the large Heartless came barreling into her, lifting her off her feet. She went flying and struck the arena shield, the wind knocked out of her from the blow. She landed in a crouch on the ground and barely rolled to the side as the large Heartless tried to squash her against the shield. Kairi came out of her roll and chained together as many attacks as she could. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight attacks and the Heartless was down. Her victory was announced and she gave a sigh of relief.

"Sloppy!" chided Phil, although his voice held more worry than reproach. "What did I tell you about keeping track of all of your enemies?"

"Sorry," apologized Kairi. "I'll try to keep it in mind from now on."

"You'd better," said Phil. "We don't want to be scraping you off the arena next time!"

"I thought the arena shield prevented any real injuries or damage and just allowed knock-outs?" asked Kairi.

"It does," replied Phil, "but with how heavy that thing was it might not have stopped you from being flattened! The shield isn't always perfect though, so don't ever plan on its protection!"

"Got it," nodded Kairi seriously, taking his words to heart.

"Excited for you next match?" asked Hercules from where he was crouching and giving Pluto belly rubs.

"Very," said Kairi breathlessly. "I can't believe I'm in the final match…"

"Be careful out there," cautioned Phil. "This guy is in a whole 'nother league. He cleared up the other side of the brackets in half the time you did. He's experienced, and is probably just as good with single opponents as he is groups."

"You've been fighting groups so far, so it'll be a different experience fighting against a single strong opponent," said Hercules. "He might even be a match for me from what I've seen."

"I doubt that guy could even make you sweat," said Phil dismissively. "He's strong but he doesn't really have what it takes to be a hero."

"What do you mean?" asked Kairi.

"I've seen him fight, he doesn't have the heart. I wouldn't be surprised if Hades stole it or something. This guy seems kind of lifeless."

"The guy that took away Hercules godhood as a kid?"

"Yeah, he's a nasty god who's always up to some trick," said Phil, crossing his arms and frowning. "He signed up all these Heartless and he also signed up this Cloud guy. He's basically rigged the whole tournament so that his people will fight Hercules. He's still after my boy, so I doubt anything good will come of it."

"Since this guy is with Hades you should be extra careful," cautioned Hercules. "Just take things slowly, study your opponent and try your hardest."

"Got it," nodded Kairi. She waved goodbye to Hercules, Phil and Pluto as they went to get seats in the stands to watch her fight. Kairi took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly before walking out of the waiting room and into the arena.

Kairi's opponent was already in the arena, standing with his arms crossed and looking completely disinterested. He had spiky blond hair that occasionally feel in front of his face. The bottom half of his face was blocked by a large red scarf that was wrapped around his neck and flowed behind him. He had a single black bat-like wing coming out of his back, adding to the mysterious dark aura Kairi felt around him. He also looked to be wearing a loose denim one piece jump suit but it was hard to tell with all the belts and metal bits decorating him in an asymmetrical fashion. Her opponent, Cloud, she remembered Phil calling him, wasn't as large as Hercules but was solidly built and looked like he'd have no trouble lifting and swinging the large, bandage wrapped sword that was strapped to his back.

Kairi walked into the arena and waved to her opponent, smiling awkwardly. "Let's have a good match."

Cloud just ignored her, unfolding his arms and revealing that his left seemed to be covered in a gold tipped claw. He took his sword off of his back and fell into a fighting stance, his weapon pointing at her. Kairi summoned the Keyblade and fell into her own stance, her heart beating wildly in her chest. She shut out the cries of the crowd but could still faintly hear Hercules, Phil and Pluto cheering for her, Pluto's howl ringing through her ears. She felt heartened knowing her friends were watching and cheering her on and started to actually feel ready for the challenge in front of her.

The announcer cried the start of the battle and the two combatants moved into motion. Kairi was used to being faster than her opponents so far so she was surprised to find that in a single leap Cloud had closed the distance between them and was making a horizontal swing at her. Kairi leapt up over the attack and started running towards him as soon as she landed. Sadly he recovered quickly and a second swing was moving back at her. She pulled up a light shield at the last moment but was still sent flying away, her shield cracking under the blow.

Kairi landed on her feet and charged the Keyblade with magic. As Cloud moved in on her she threw a wind raid at him. He planted his feet and swung with his large blade at the tornado, disrupting the attack and it's magic. Kairi was already running towards him as she called the Keyblade back to her hand. She was in front of him in an instant and swinging in several blows that struck home. He was knocked backwards by her onslaught, pieces of cut fabric coming loose with the Keyblade as she also stepped back to make room.

Cloud didn't look tired as she sized him up, just fed up. She on the other hand was surprised at how much her exertions were getting to her. Cloud swung his blade easily, striking the ground and cutting a gash in the arena.

"Now we end this," said Cloud simply, holding his blade in front of him. Electricity crackled around him and his wing unfurled itself completely. Cloud lifted up off of the ground and hovered there. Kairi just stared in shock and almost missed the moment he started to move. He was much faster now and was in front of her in an instant. He swung at her and she ducked underneath, able to feel the blade at the tips of her hair. He didn't give her a chance to respond as he swung down at her, and she backed away quickly, the ground getting smashed by the force of his blow.

A chill ran do her spine as something occurred to Kairi. It was confirmed by the hushed silence of the crowd and the worried cry from Phil. "Look out! The arena shield isn't functioning!"

"Wait, what?" asked Kairi lamely. She barely got up a shield to block the next strike and it burst under the strength of Cloud's attack, sending her flying backwards. She stood quickly and held up her hands as she plead with Cloud. "Let's stop, the shield is down! This is too dangerous without it!"

"This is only dangerous for you," muttered Cloud, approaching her. "For me this is just a part of the deal."

"What deal?" asked Kairi, holding the Keyblade up in a defensive stance as she back away from her foe. "What are you talking about?"

"He said he'll help me find my light if I kill you and Hercules," replied Cloud.

"Who did?"

"That's not important," said Cloud. He moved in quickly against her, energy crackling around his body and sword. Kairi reacted instinctively, funneling magic into the Keyblade and throwing it in a strike raid. It wasn't wind magic this time though but light magic. The radiance from the attack blinded her but it was worse for Cloud who was actually stopped in the middle of his attack. The Keyblade struck him as he was distracted and knocked him completely across the arena where he landed in a heap. A cheer was taken up by the crowd as Kairi automatically returned the Keyblade to her hand, stunned at what she'd just done. The cheers were halted though as Cloud shakily stood up, using his sword as a prop to help him do so.

"Oh come on!" yelled Kairi, fatigue filling her. The energy had disappeared from around Cloud, but she didn't doubt he could finish her off without it. He moved slowly but steadily towards her, his sword dragging against the arena floor. Kairi yelled out at Cloud. "Come on, let's stop this! I don't want to hurt you!"

"Then you can just stand there," replied Cloud. "I need to find my light…"

"I can't die either," replied Kairi, falling into a fighting stance. "I have people I need to find also!"

"I'm sorry to do this then," said Cloud, lifting his sword up over his head and swinging down at her. Kairi lifted the Keyblade up to block but wasn't sure she could actually do so. She expected to feel the end but a yellow flash intervened between them, grabbing Cloud's sword with ease.

"Hercules!" cried Kairi excitedly, looking at her mentor standing holding Cloud's large sword back easily with one hand. He was frowning disapprovingly at Cloud who was glaring back at him.

"What do you think you're doing?" asked Hercules.

"Completing half of the deal," replied Cloud.

"With who?"

"None of your business. But you saved me the trouble of coming after you. If I kill you both, I can find my light."

"This is not how you find your light," replied Hercules, tossing Cloud's sword to the side. Cloud leapt back and grabbed it, falling into a defensive stance.

"He promised me…" repeated Cloud, almost desperately.

Kairi stepped forwards so that she was standing next to Hercules. She held her hand out to Cloud. "We're also looking for people. We can help you find your light while we're doing so. What do you say?"

"You'd…help me?" asked Cloud.

"Of course we would!" replied Kairi. "Hercules is a Hero and I'm a junior Hero, we always keep our words. Right Hercules?"

"Of course," replied Hercules with a smile. He looked back at Cloud. "If you stop fighting us then we can help you also."

"I…I…" said Cloud, sounding confused. "I…"

"Wrong answer!" said a cocky voice, filling the arena. "You were really not worth my time, were you?"

"Who's there?" asked Kairi, confused.

"Hades," growled Hercules.

"Bingo!" said Hades, appearing in a pillar of smoke and fire. Hades was a large, blue skinned man with a flowing black robe and blue fire for hair. He had shifty eyes and a cocky smile on his face as he stared at the combatants from the edge of the arena. "I guess I shouldn't have expected a mopey wreck like you to be able to beat the Zero Hero here. But not even being able to beat the girl? That's lame!"

"Hades," yelled Hercules. "Why are you after Kairi?"

"A favor for a witchy friend of mine," replied Hades casually. "She doesn't really like your new protégé and asked me to take care of her. I altered the deal with emo boy here to include her life as well as yours, but I guess even that was asking too much! Oh well, never send a boy to do a monster's job. Tata!"

Hades snapped his fingers and disappeared as Hercules ran at him. Hercules stamped his foot against the ground in frustration. A gate at the far end of the arena started to slowly grind open and several pairs of large, glowing red eyes stared out at them."

"Hercules?" asked Kairi worriedly.

"Cerberus," muttered Hercules. He turned to the crowd. "Everyone! Get out of here now! It isn't safe here! I'll hold him off!"

A giant three headed dog covered in pitch black fur came stomping out of the gate sending the crowd fleeing out of the coliseum in a panic. Pluto tried to run to Kairi but Phil grabbed him by the collar and pulled him out of there. "Come on you mangy mutt! It ain't safe here!"

"Go with Phil!" yelled Kairi. Pluto hesitated briefly but listened to her, carrying Phil along behind him.

Hercules looked over to her and gestured to the exit. "You should leave to, and take Cloud with you!"

"I'm your student, I'm not going to leave you!" cried Kairi.

"And I have a score to settle," muttered Cloud, staring down his sword at the slowly approaching Cerberus.

"You're both injured, this place isn't safe for you," insisted Hercules. "Cerberus is the Guardian of the Underworld. He's powerful and dangerous, you'll just get killed.

"Hey kid!" yelled a voice. Kairi looked to see Phil and Pluto standing by the exit, two bottles in his hand. He threw one and then the other. Kairi caught one, almost dropping it while Cloud caught the other easily in one hand. It was an elixir, and could restore both her strength and her magic. Phil yelled at them. "Kick his butt!"

"Thanks Phil!" yelled Kairi, uncorking the elixir. Cloud had already downed his and thrown away the bottle, energy once again crackling around him. Kairi felt her strength returning, the Keyblade getting lighter in her hand.

Hercules just observed the two and gave a sigh. "Fine, we'll get him together. I'll distract him by taking him head on, you two strike from the sides!"

"Got it!" yelled Kairi, circling to the left.

"Whatever," replied Cloud, circling to the right.

With a yell Hercules ran right at Cerberus. Cerberus spat out a ball of fire at Hercules from his middle head but Hercules just ran right on through, not even flinching as the fire splashed over him. Cerberus's right head snapped at Hercules but he just hit it with an uppercut, snapping the head upwards. The left head tried to get revenge but he just jumped over and onto it, smashing it into the ground. Hercules threw a simple left jab at the middle head but it was still strong enough to send a large tooth chip flying.

Watching Hercules weave through the snarling snapping heads was amazing and Kairi felt like she clearly knew why Hercules was a hero. He was strong, fast and tough, that much was clear but it was more than that. He was in the midst of danger, allowing everyone else to escape or have a chance at victory. Cerberus was tough and every so often a fang or claw touched Hercules, tearing his armor like paper and even in one case drawing a small rivulet of blood.

Fighting back the distraction Kairi focused on summoning up all the magical energy she could. Cloud had managed to focus all of his energy into his sword, the blade crackling with whatever magic it was he used. Kairi tried to do the same, weaving her limited magical talents into a new spell. At first she considered trying a wind raid but as she tried to gather up the magic she felt something else intruding. Light magic joined in with the wind magic, combining into something new that Kairi had never experienced before. She knew that whatever she was doing was going to be powerful, but she wasn't sure what she was to do with it. Cerberus was fast and agile and the only reason the large three headed dog was still in one place was because of Hercules keeping him there. But if Hercules was still there when her and Cloud attacked, it was possible they could hurt him, possibly severely.

As Kairi felt the magic reaching its peak, screaming to be released, Hercules yelled to them over his shoulder. "Attack him now!"

"Got it!" said Cloud, swinging his sword in an overhead arch. The electricity crackling through the blade was thrown off, hitting Cerberus with perfect precision, causing the dog to cry out in pain. The energy also rooted him to the ground, unable to move. Hercules took the chance to leap away from Cerberus, creating space between them.

Then it was Kairi's turn. She cocked back her arm and threw the Keyblade like she would for a strike raid. As the magic was released from her, going with the Keyblade towards its target she felt words rising to the top of her mind and out of her mouth. "Salvation!" she yelled in what she realized was the name for the attack. The Keyblade struck Cerberus, creating a huge vortex of wind on impact, bright light splaying off in all directions. Cerberus howled in pain, his cries diminishing behind the curtain of light and wind.

"Did that get him?" asked Kairi, collapsing to the ground, her energy completely spent. Cloud stabbed his sword into the ground as a way to prop himself up, his breath coming out in ragged gasps. The light disappeared and Kairi was horrified to see Cerberus, burned and scarred, but still standing, panting and growling in anger.

"Well, that's not good," commented Cloud, trying to stand up straight but unable too. Kairi's legs felt like jelly, shaking and unable to prop her up.

"You two both did a hero's job, well done!" yelled a voice proudly. Kairi looked at the opposite end of the arena and saw Hercules, standing proudly, a smile on his face. In an instant he was running at Cerberus. Hercules bent down his head and rammed straight into Cerberus with a crack of lightning, lifting the large dog off of the ground and into the arena wall. Cerberus crumbled to the ground unmoving. Hercules stood tall and strong in where his foe had once stood. Hercules walked over to Kairi and offered her his hand. She took it, standing up with his help.

Propped up on Hercules they walked over to Cloud, the Hero extending his hand to him. Cloud just looked away. "No thanks," muttered Cloud.

"Come on, take it," insisted Kairi. "There's no shame in needing help. Plus, we already promised we'd help you find who you were looking for, so this is just part of that, right?"

Cloud looked over at her for a moment and with a sigh allowed Hercules to help him up. Together the three fighters walked out of the arena and to the waiting room where Phil was hurriedly pulling out all sorts of medical supplies and potions. Pluto barked as they entered, practically gluing himself to Kairi's side.

"Of all the stupid halfcocked maneuvers you could do!" yelled Phil at Kairi as he bandaged her up. "A junior hero going against Cerberus of all things. Do you have a death wish?" Before Kairi could comment that Phil had helped her do so with the elixir he'd turned his wrath to Hercules. "And you! Allowing her to do that! You're her teacher and a hero, what made you think that was a good idea?"

"It's not like there was really the time to stop her, now was there?" pointed out Hercules. "Also, she did very well out there, both in the tournament and against Cerberus. Definitely the best talent I've seen in a long time. Don't you agree Phil?"

"That has nothing to do with this!" asserted Phil. "If anything it actually has everything to do with this! A talent like that shouldn't put themselves at risk to something they can't handle! Kairi's got the talent to go the distance, she did great today, but you never know about tomorrow! Be responsible kid!"

"I will Phil," promised Kairi, tears coming to her eyes as she pulled the small goat-man into a tight hug.

"Whoa! No tears on the fur!"

Hercules just laughed heartily. When he was done he looked over at Cloud who'd been bandaging himself up and was just resting against a locker. "Who are you looking for exactly anyways?"

Cloud opened his eyes and looked right at Hercules. "I'm looking for my light," he repeated.

"Well, that's a vague refrain," muttered Phil as he finished bandaging up Kairi.

"But is that a person or a thing?" asked Kairi.

"It's a person," replied Cloud with certainty.

"Do you know their name?" asked Kairi.

Cloud hesitated for a moment before answering. "No, I don't. I just know they're out there, I can feel it in my heart. The darkness is constantly fighting for control of my soul, they, whoever they are, can help me."

"Then that's good enough for me," said Kairi with a smile. "I'll help you find them so that they can help you."

"You mean it?" asked Cloud.

"Of course. I said so, didn't I? I already promised Hercules I'd keep an eye out for someone he's looking for, I'll just do the same for you."

"Why would you do this?"

Kairi looked down sadly. "I was separated from my friends when the Islands were destroyed by the Heartless. I can feel it in my heart, Sora and Riku are still alive. With them I know we can defeat the Heartless. So, while I travel around looking for them, I can look for your light."

Cloud was silent for a moment before standing up and glaring at Kairi. "No."

"No?" asked Kairi, confused.

"No, you won't search for my light for me," said Cloud. "I'll come with you to find them, and to help you find your friends in return."

"Really?" asked Kairi, surprised at the offer. "What about the Coliseum?"

"It doesn't mean anything to me," replied Cloud. "Leaving it or staying behind, I'd rather keep moving forward."

"Well, if either of you ever decide you need a place to stay, rest or train, know that you're always welcome here as a second home," said Hercules with a smile.

"I might come back eventually for that match with you," said Cloud gruffly. "If I feel like it."

Kairi reached out and hugged Hercules. "Thank you very much for helping me, you've helped me start to become a hero."

"You were already on your way," assured Hercules.

"But don't get cocky kid!" warned Phil. "Keep up your training if you ever want to become a true Hero!"

"I will," nodded Kairi, breaking away from her hug and resting a hand on Pluto, rubbing behind his ears. Kairi stood up, feeling completely refreshed. Apparently Phil was very good at healing with both medicines and with magic, she'd hardly noticed his treatments. Suddenly Kairi smelled something burning.

"Hey, what's wrong with your jacket?" asked Phil. "It on fire?"

Kairi took off the jacket and saw that on the back had etched two new patches, still smoking slightly. One was a cloud with a lightning bolt coming out of it. The other was Cloud's bandaged sword.

"Wow, I didn't know it did that…" marveled Kairi.

Hercules just smiled. "That's the gods for you. They're thoughtful like that. That jacket will mark when you've made a connection with someone. To remind you of all the great people you've met."

"Wow…." said Kairi, tears coming to her eyes as she thought of all the people the symbols represented. She felt something on her shoulder and looked up to see Cloud standing over her, his hand on her shoulder. She smiled at him. "Thanks."

An idea came to Kairi's mind and she started to walk down the hall.

"Where you goin'?" asked Phil after her.

"I've got something I want to try again!" called back Kairi.

Kairi walked into the entrance room of the Coliseum and looked around. She saw the same block Phil had tried to make her move when she'd first arrived, still stuck in the same place. Kairi walked over to it and started to push, trying to get the thing to budge, even a little. So focused on her challenge Kairi didn't noticed that the others had joined her until Cloud had walked up beside her and put his shoulder against the block, helping her push.

"You looked like you could use some help," he said simply, returning his focus to the unmoving block. Hercules than came up on her other side, also pushing. Even Pluto tried to help, going up to the block and trying to push with his shoulder. For a moment it looked like even the four of them couldn't move the block but slowly and surely the block started to glow and move. The light from the block became blinding but still they pushed. As they moved the block a glowing keyhole became visible on the floor. When the block was moved it disappeared, leaving only the five of them alone with the keyhole.

"I can't believe it," marveled Phil. "Not even Herc was able to move that."

"I think it was magically sealed," commented Hercules.

"What's with the shining keyhole on the floor though?" asked Phil moving to examine it.

Kairi felt a tugging on her heart and following it made the Keyblade appear in her hand. The Keyblade glowed and she pointed it at the Keyhole. A brilliant beam of light shot out of the tip of the Keyblade and went into the Keyhole, the sound of a lock being closed filling the room.

"What the Hades was that?" asked Phil, looking at the spot the keyhole used to be.

"I think that was the Heart of this world," said Kairi, unsummoning the Keyblade. "I locked one like it in the Jungle. I don't know what it does but I know the Keyblade wants me to lock them. I think that maybe locking the Heart of a world will protect it from the Heartless."

"I sure hope you're right," commented Phil.

"So, are you going to look for more of these Keyholes?" asked Hercules.

"If I find them, I feel like I should," said Kairi, unsure of what exactly she was supposed to be doing.

"How are we going to travel to the next world?" asked Cloud, leaning against the wall.

"So far it's been through random portals I've found," admitted Kairi. "Last time I locked the Keyhole and a portal just appeared and brought me here."

As if summoned by her words a bright portal like the one from the Jungle appeared in the middle of the room. Kairi felt an inviting feeling coming from the portal, knowing it would take them to the next destination.

"That's convenient," commented Cloud.

"So, you're going now then?" asked Hercules.

"Yeah," nodded Kairi. "I'll make sure to look for and ask about Ventus on each world I visit though."

"Stay safe and out of trouble," said Phil.

"I'll try," replied Kairi with a smile. She turned and walked up to the portal. Taking a deep breath she held out her hand right in front of it. "Portal, please take us to Cloud's light."

"Will that work?" asked Phil.

"I don't know," admitted Kairi, "but I hope it does."

"We'll find them when we find them," said Cloud, walking up to her side. Together with Pluto the three friends walked into the light, the world disappearing around them.


	6. Return to Traverse Town

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

Please read and review, your feedback helps me to write better stories.

* * *

 _A massive core of energy lay beyond the door sought by the Heartless. It may be the ultimate goal of the Heartless. But what is that energy? I have devised a hypothesis, based upon my observations of the Heartless._

 _The Heartless feed on other's hearts, and they yearn for that energy core. That thing beyond the door must be a heart, too-the heart of this world. There is no proof, but, having felt that immense energy, I am certain. That was the heart of the world._

 _The Heartless are trying to take hearts not only from all living creatures, but from the planet itself. But what do they mean to do with the heart of the world?_

 _-Ansem's Report 6_

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Return to Traverse Town**

"Well, there they go," commented Phil, watching the portal disappear behind Kairi, Cloud and Pluto.

"Yeah," said Hercules. "I hope they find what they're looking for."

"I hope she does too," replied Phil. He crossed his arms and glared up at Hercules. "I'm not sure about that depressing yahoo she's traveling with though. What's with this, "I'm looking for my light" stuff anyways? Could he be vaguer? What does that even mea-"

Phil was cut off as the door to the Coliseum was slammed open, the wood groaning against its hinges. In the doorway stood a young woman dressed in red boots, and black shorts with suspenders over a white t-shirt. She wore red gloves, black sleeves coming out from the gloves to just above her elbow, and metal pads over each elbow. Her long black hair was held together by a small red tie near the end of it, although currently it swung back and forth wildly due to her movements. The woman looked casually around the room, seemingly unaware of the racket she'd just caused. She caught sight of Phil and Hercules and walked up to them, waving.

"Hey, did you happen to see a cranky guy with spiky blond hair around here by chance?" asked the woman.

"Do you mean Cloud?" asked Hercules.

"Yeah!" exclaimed the woman excitedly. "Is he here?"

"He actually just left to another world through a portal a minute ago."

"What!" yelled the woman. "Where's this portal?"

"It just closed," replied Hercules.

"Do you know where it took him?"

"No clue," said Phil, speaking up finally.

"Darn it!" yelled the woman, balling her hand into a fist and punching the stone wall of the coliseum. The wall shook slightly under the impact, the stone cracked around where she'd hit. Apparently unhurt by her encounter with the wall, the woman at least had the good sense to become slightly embarrassed. "Whoops. Sorry about that. I was just so close to finding him."

"Well, Cloud did say that he might come back for a rematch with me at some point," supplied Hercules.

"Really?" asked the woman hopefully.

"Yeah, he's bound to show up here eventually, or news of where he is," replied Hercules.

Phil stepped forward, an idea forming in his head and a smile on his face. "Well, meanwhile babe, how about you stay and compete in the games? You've got one hell of a punch in you."

* * *

Kairi had prepared herself for yet another strange, exotic and possibly outright crazy destination at the end of the portal, so it was that she even more surprised by what she saw when the light disappeared.

"Is this Traverse Town?" asked Kairi, looking around. The question was a stupid one as right in front of her was a sign declaring such. Kairi, Pluto and Cloud all stood in the same town square that she'd first met Yuffie and Leon.

Cloud looked around, his face as impassive as usual. "You know this place?" he asked.

"Yeah, this is where I appeared when the Islands were destroyed by the Heartless," replied Kairi. She reached down and rubbed Pluto behind his ears. "It's also where I met Pluto."

"Hmmm," muttered Cloud. "Did you lock one of those keyholes here too?"

"No, I didn't," said Kairi in sudden realization. "Maybe that's why we were sent here, to lock the keyhole? Pluto and I had to flee from the Heartless before we could do much here. We had to leave some people behind. I hope they're all alright…"

Kairi started up the stairs from the square, Cloud and Pluto following behind her. She stopped in front of Cid's store, hesitating before opening the door. The old man had seemed close to Yuffie and Leon and would know how they were doing. Or if they were dead…

"You're free to go in you know," said a gruff voice. Kairi jumped slightly in surprise and she turned to see Cid leaning against a lamp post, a cigarette dangling in his mouth. "You don't need to be so shy. Not that it would do you good right now I guess since no one's in there currently."

"Hello again sir," said Kairi, bowing slightly to the older man. Cid just scowled at her.

"There's no need for any of that little missy," he stood up straight and studied Kairi and her companions. "Still got your dog I see. Got some new clothes, some nice ones, not that I can exactly comment on your fashion sense there. Much better than your new friend here, who are you supposed to be anyways?"

Cloud looked silently at Cid for a moment before finally answering. "I'm Cloud."

"Interesting name," grunted Cid. "So, what are you and the scarecrow here doing back in town? Looking for Leon and them?"

Kairi stepped forward in excitement. "Yes! Are they okay?"

"Still fine and kicking, the whole group of brats," replied Cid. Despite his words Kairi thought that she saw the ghost of a smile on his face. "They were worried by your sudden disappearing act though."

"Sorry," said Kairi sadly, looking down at her feet.

"Eh, they're not the type to be offended or angry at something stupid like that," commented Cid. "If you're really sorry though you can find them in the house right by the entrance in the 3rd District. The door to there from here is locked though, so you'll have to go through the 2nd District."

"Thank you very much!" Kairi said with a smile and a slight bow. She turned around and started to run off, Cloud and Pluto trailing behind her.

"And don't be afraid to open the door next time!" yelled Cid from behind her. Kairi couldn't help but giggle.

They went around Cid's store and went through the door to the 2nd District. Kairi just looked around, memories of her first visit filling her mind. She'd been lost and scared then, unsure of how to use the Keyblade. Leon and Yuffie had needed to protect her then and even if it was by accident she'd abandoned them to a fight. She knew that wasn't true, she would have been worse than useless in a fight then, but it still felt like a failure. Kairi took a running leap off of the upper level of the district, landing easily on the lower level in front of the fountain. Cloud and Pluto followed, both easily making the jump.

"Didn't want to take the stairs?" asked Cloud.

Kairi shook her head. "I was trying to prove something to myself. Last time I was here I couldn't even make that jump. I'm different now."

"I'll take your word for it," shrugged Cloud.

Suddenly Pluto started to growl, looking around the district. "What is it?" she asked him, looking around. All around them Heartless came into existence, surrounding the three of them. Cloud hefted his sword and Kairi summoned the Keyblade to her hand, looking around. There was a large mix of shadows, soldiers, the various magical jars and two of the large Heartless she'd fought before. In all it was more heartless in one place than she'd ever seen before. She tightened her grip on the Keyblade. "That's a lot of Heartless."

"They'll need more than this to stop me," commented Cloud. Energy crackled around him and he leapt into the air, swinging his sword with a cry. He cut straight through one of the large Heartless, landing in the spot it had once occupied. His attack seemed to be the cue the Heartless needed and they sprung into motion. Kairi threw the Keyblade in a strike raid at one of the jars, destroying it. She summoned it back to her hand in time to slash a shadow in half as it leapt at her, releasing yet another heart into the sky.

Kairi dodged to the side as a soldier spun through the air at her. She rolled to her feet and intercepted another shadow, destroying it. She charged some wind magic into the Keyblade and threw it at the soldier she'd dodged, sending it flying into the air. It crashed hard to the ground and was destroyed. Meanwhile Cloud was destroying Heartless with every slash of his sword, shadows and soldiers falling to him. Pluto had tackled a soldier and was chewing on its arm as the Heartless tried to get him off.

Kairi was surprised as a barrage of magical attacks flew from several jars at her, forcing her to roll away. As she got to her feet a soldier came rushing at her. She was unable to get the Keyblade up in time and expected to feel the soldier's claws ripping into her. Instead the soldier was destroyed as a sword cut it in half. Kairi was surprised by who she saw standing and smiling at her.

"Need some assistance?" asked the newcomer.

"Riku…" said Kairi breathlessly. Right in front of her was one of the friends she'd gone searching for, looking as good as ever. She felt her heartbeat increase in pace as he smiled at her.

"We'll have to talk later," said Riku, turning around and destroying another shadow. Kairi noted briefly that the blade of his sword was black and shaped like a bat wing. With another quick swing RIku took out a soldier that made the unfortunate mistake of getting too close to him. He looked over his shoulder at her, flashing her another smile. "You can just stand back, I've got thi-"

Riku wasn't able to react in time as a shadow leapt up at him but Kairi had seen it coming and fired a chunk of ice from the tip of the Keyblade, destroying it. She smiled at the stunned Riku. "I've improved since we last met. I can fight too."

"And so can we!" yelled a voice. Kairi turned around and saw a black clothed figure leaping through the air at the Large Heartless which was charging at Cloud. The Heartless was cut in half by the newcomer. The person stood up and Kairi couldn't help but smiling.

"Leon!" she shouted. He turned and waved quickly at her before firing a blast of fire at a shadow. Several of the jars were destroyed as they were struck by several flying objects. Kairi smiled as she saw traced their path and saw Yuffie on top of a roof of a nearby building. "Yuffie!"

"Hey Kairi!" called the girl, smiling and waving at her. "Nice clothes!"

Kairi's attention was drawn back to the battle as large groups of shadows were destroyed on either side of the fountain courtyard. A large white feathered duck person was running around in blue clothes, a staff in hand firing magic at Heartless after Heartless, destroying them all. On the other side of the courtyard was a green tornado, spinning round and round, taking out all the Heartless it touched. The figure stopped moving and Kairi was surprised to see someone who looked like a cross between a person and a dog wearing green clothes, a shield in hand. They threw the shield with unerring precision and it bounced off of Heartless after Heartless, knocking them over to make it easier for everyone else to destroy.

Kairi and Riku spared each other a quick glance. They nodded in unison and leapt back into the fray. Kairi charged the Keyblade with light magic and threw it through a crowd of Shadows, taking them all out. She caught a glimpse of Riku dismembering a soldier. He stabbed another soldier that tried to sneak up behind him before leaping through a third. Within minutes the group had destroyed all of the Heartless in the fountain courtyard. At least, that's what Kairi thought before she heard a strange whistling noise. Looking up she noticed something plummeting straight at her and Riku.

"Look out!" she yelled, pointing to the object. They both dodged in opposite directions just in time. The object crashed into the ground, sending chunks of cement flying through the air. Kairi turned and saw that in the new crater something was moving. She gasped when she saw it rising up. It was a Heartless, the same one she'd ran away from her first visit to Traverse Town.

"This thing again?" asked Yuffie, jumping down from the rooftops to land next to Kairi.

The Heartless trembled and its limbs and head detached from its body. The torso flipped over, the tapered end facing down and the wider end now pointing up. The arms moved and flipped into position as the armor's legs. The legs meanwhile moved to take the place of the arms. The head moved into place on top of the wide area, the visor part of it flipping down to reveal the yellow eyes of a Heartless.

"Not exactly," replied Leon, holding his sword at the ready. "We took it down before, we'll take it down again."

"It doesn't look too tough," commented Cloud nonchalantly.

Kairi held the Keyblade up, glaring at the Heartless. "This time, I'll fight it too."

The duck pointed to the Heartless Armor. "It's coming right this way!"

Leon, Yuffie and Cloud jumped over the charging Heartless while the duck scrambled to the left, Kairi dodged to the right and Riku managed to dodge underneath it. Kairi turned to face the Heartless and was surprised by what she saw. There was the dog-man standing planted in front of the Heartless, shield held out in front of him. The Heartless was completely stopped in its charge and was struggling to move forward anymore.

"Goofy!" yelled the duck. He raised his staff up into the air. "Gravity!" A purple ball of energy appeared above the Heartless and bore down on it. The Heartless was pushed into the ground, unable to move.

"Now!" yelled Leon. He leapt into the air and brought his sword down on one of the leg-arms. Cloud leapt into motion at the same time, destroying the other one. Yuffie and Riku both ran past Kairi, each targeting and destroying a limb with their attacks.

Kairi cocked her arm back and charged light magic into the Keyblade. "Light strike!" she yelled, throwing the attack. The Keyblade spun through the air, light flashing out of it with every rotation. It struck the body of the Armored Heartless and went right through. The body disappeared in a flash of darkness, the head falling uselessly to the ground.

"Fire!" yelled the duck. A ball of fire shot out of his staff and hit the Heartless's head, destroying it and releasing a heart into the night sky.

"Thank you for helping me there Donald," said Goofy, walking up to the Duck. "That Heartless was strong."

"What do you think you were doing you idiot!" chided Donald. "Why didn't you dodge?"

"Well, it would have destroyed the fountain then," replied Goofy simply, pointing over his shoulder at the fountain. Donald gave a heavy sigh at that. Kairi couldn't help but giggle at the duo. They reminded her a lot of Sora and Riku.

Kairi turned around to face her old friend. "Hey Riku, have you seen-" Kairi stopped speaking, realizing Riku was no longer in the courtyard. She looked around but didn't she him anywhere. Yuffie turned away from watching Cloud and Leon sizing up each other and looked at Kairi.

"Something wrong?" she asked, walking over.

"Yeah, Riku left," replied Kairi.

"That blue haired kid with the wicked sword moves?" asked Yuffie. "A friend of yours?"

"Yeah. From the Islands," said Kairi with a nod. "I wanted to ask him if he'd seen our other friend Sora anywhere."

Yuffie just shrugged. "I guess he had something to do."

"Yeah," sighed Kairi. Her heart was beating very hard just at the thought of Riku for some reason. She shook her head to chase away the feeling. "Oh well, I guess it's just good to see that he's doing well."

"Yeah, he'll be fine fighting like that," commented Yuffie. She looked down at the Keyblade in Kairi's hand and smiled. "You've apparently gotten better also."

Kairi returned the smile and held up the Keyblade, dismissing it with a thought. "Yeah, I had a good teacher to train me."

Yuffie hitched a thumb over her shoulder at Cloud. "That guy?"

"No, a guy named Hercules. He's a hero on one of the worlds I visited. I met Cloud on the same world, but he didn't teach me. We just fought in a tournament."

"You've got a lot to tell me about apparently," laughed Yuffie. She turned around to face Leon who was still staring off with Cloud. "Hey Leon! We should probably head back to the hideout and talk. I think there's a lot to share."

"Got it," replied Leon, breaking eye contact. Kairi caught Cloud smirking slightly as Leon walked away.

Yuffie turned back to Kairi. "You two should come with us."

"Three," corrected Kairi. "There's also Pluto."

"Pluto?" asked Yuffie, thinking for a moment. "Oh right! He was in the middle of the Heartless when we showed up. Where is he now?"

Kairi looked around for Pluto, not seeing him. She heard a barking noise and looked over to the fountain. Pluto was sitting in the water, his front paws up on the rim of the fountain.

"Pluto!" yelled Donald in surprise.

"Wait a moment," said Goofy, scratching his head. "If Pluto's here, and he was with the Keybearer, does that mean the Keybearer is here?"

"Uh, she's right here," said Yuffie, pointing to Kairi.

Kairi just smiled and waved awkwardly at the pair. "Uh, hello."

"Finally!" cried Donald triumphantly, jumping into the air. "Now we can find the King!"

"What?" asked Kairi, confused.

"We'll explain everything back at the hideout," said Yuffie. She turned to walk away, Donald and Goofy moving to follow her.

Kairi beckoned to Pluto. "Come on Pluto!" The dog jumped out of the fountain right as the whole thing started to glow. Kairi felt a familiar compulsion and the Keyblade appeared in her hand without warning. Donald and Goofy gasped at the sight. Yuffie looked like she wanted to ask a question but before she could Kairi lifted the Keyblade up and pointed it at the fountain. A keyhole of light appeared on the fountain. A beam of light shot out of the Keyblade and went into the keyhole, a familiar locking sound following it. The glow around the fountain dimmed and Kairi unsummoned the Keyblade. She turned and smiled at Yuffie. "We have a lot to talk about."

* * *

"See, she's gotten new friends," whispered Maleficent into Riku's ear as she stood behind him at their vantage point on top of a roof in the Second District. Riku looked down at Kairi happily chatting with the black haired girl before turning to call for the dog that was sitting in the fountain. "I doubt she's even thought about finding you or Sora."

Riku was silent as Maleficent continued to speak to him, whisking them away through a dark portal back to her castle. He didn't even look back as Traverse Town disappeared behind him.

* * *

The group walked from the Second district into the Third District. They went up a flight of stairs and found themselves at a shabby house that seemed out of place among the strings of lights and store fronts of the Third District. Inside was a brown haired woman in a pink dress sitting on a bed. She looked up and smiled at them when they entered.

"Welcome back," she greeted. She looked right at Kairi and she shivered slightly, feeling as if the woman was seeing through her. "This is Kairi the Keybearer?"

"Yep," said Yuffie happily. When they were all crammed into the small house Yuffie started to point to each of them in turn. "Aerith, Leon, Donald, Goofy, Kairi, Pluto, Cloud and Yuffie!" she finished by pointing to herself. "Now that introductions are done, let's get talking!"

"Things are slightly more complicated than that," said Leon dryly. He looked over at Kairi. "Could you tell us where you've been this whole time?"

Kairi nodded. "It's a long story. When Pluto and I were running from that Heartless in the tunnel we kind of fell into a…well…I guess it was a portal. The next thing I know we were in…"

Kairi went on to tell of their adventures in Wonderland, the Jungle and the Olympus Coliseum. She told about the fate of Wonderland, what happened to Alice and Clayton, locking the Keyholes, learning to fight from Hercules, competing in the Tournament and promising to help Cloud find his light. She didn't mention her dream or the Mysterious Keyblade wielder who's saved her in it though. When she was done everyone grew silent and thoughtful for several moments.

Leon was the one who broke the silence. "You've been up to a lot since we were separated. What has me worried though is those Keyholes. They sound important."

"They're the Hearts of the Worlds," commented Aerith suddenly, drawing everyone's attention. She reached under the pillow on the bed and pulled out a packet of papers. "These are the notes of the ruler of the world Leon, Yuffie, Cid and I came from. They're in code and hard to translate but what I have translated made reference to a possible Heart for each world. With what you were told and experienced I think those are what the Heartless are truly after on each world."

"Like I said," muttered Leon," these have me worried. I think it's important that they be sealed as soon as possible. It seems like the Keyblade might be the only way to do that."

Kairi summoned the Keyblade and studied it briefly. Something told her that what Leon said was right. She could feel a heavy weight falling on her at the thought that she'd need to travel all around the worlds sealing Keyholes before the Heartless got to them. Her thoughts fell on Wonderland. "I'll do it," she said, looking up at everyone. "I'll seal the Keyholes before the Heartless get to them. Plus, if I travel around I might be able to find Riku or Sora."

"Yes," said Aerith with a smile. "I'm sure you'll find them."

Kairi looked over at Cloud who was leaning quietly against the wall, just observing the gathering. She looked back to Aerith and Leon. "I'm also looking for Cloud's light, if you happen to have any clues."

"That's rather vague," said Leon dryly. He looked over at Cloud. "Do you have anything else to go on?"

Cloud just shrugged. "I just need it and I'll know it when I see it."

Yuffie looked thoughtful for a moment before smiling at Aerith. "You have visions and insights sometimes, can you help?"

Aerith looked over at Cloud, staring deep into his eyes. After a few moments she closed her eyes and thought silently before opening them again and speaking up. "You're looking for a person. Someone close to your heart. They're not in Traverse Town but another world. Any more than that I do not know."

Cloud gave Aerith a rare smile. "Thank you."

Kairi took up the conversation again. "So if you find out anything else, let us know. We're all looking for a friend of Hercules by the name of Ventus. Supposedly he also wielded a Keyblade."

"We'll look for him," promised Aerith.

"It'll be useful to have two Keyblade wielders on our side I bet!" commented Yuffie.

"In addition to all of that," said Leon, "we'll try to figure out where the Heartless are coming from. Something started all of this, and if we can stop it then maybe things can be returned to normal."

"Sounds like a plan!" cheered Yuffie.

"We'll be coming with you!" spoke up Donald finally. "We were told by the King to find the Keybearer and protect them and that's what we'll do!"

"Yeah, and we might find the King too!" commented Goofy happily.

"Thank you," replied Kairi. She frowned briefly. "I'm not sure how we'll get to the next world though."

Goofy smiled. "That's easy! We'll take our ship!"

"You have a ship?" asked Kairi.

"Yeah, our Gummy Ship. It can travel between worlds," explained Goofy.

"I'll be coming too," said Cloud, finally speaking up. "You promised to help me find my light."

"And I plan to keep it," smiled Kairi. "I'm glad to have you with me!" Pluto started to lick Kairi's hand. She smiled at him, rubbing behind his ears with her slightly wet hand. "And you too of course."

"I'll also be coming along!" spoke up a voice Kairi didn't recognize. She looked around for the speaker and saw that there was something small jumping up and down on the brim of Goofy's hat. She realized they were a tiny person in a suit and hat with an umbrella in one hand and a book in the other. He waved at Kairi, bowing slightly. "Jiminy Cricket's the name!"

"Oh, hello there," greeted Kairi. "You're a friend of Donald and Goofy?"

"He arrived at the Castle and gave us warning of everything that was going on," answered Goofy.

"My world was destroyed by the Heartless," explained Jiminy. "I'm looking for Pinocchio and Geppeto. They're my friends."

"Well, I'm already looking for a lot of other people, what's two more?" asked Kairi with a smile.

"Thank you very much! I'm also going around and taking notes of the various types of Heartless and trying to figure out the mystery of why they've appeared recently."

"He'll be very useful to have, trust me," said Leon. "Plus, he can write down what you guys find out and then we can compare notes when you visit."

"Let's get going already then!" said Donald, stamping his foot impatiently. "The King is out there somewhere waiting for us!"

"I guess we'll be going then," said Kairi.

"Have fun!" said Yuffie, giving Kairi a hug.

"Remember to stop by if you find anything out," said Leon.

"Be safe!" bid Aerith.

Kairi, Pluto, Cloud, Donald, Goofy and Jiminy exited the house. Cloud went over to the door from the Third district to the First District, but couldn't get it open. "I can't see how to open it from here." He commented.

Kairi looked around and saw a keyhole to the side of the door. She summoned the Keyblade and pointed it at the keyhole. A beam of light shot out and the door unlocked with a click. She smiled at Cloud. "There we go."

They walked into the First District. Kairi took a short detour to thank Cid for his help before they headed to where Donald and Goofy had parked their ship. The ship itself was constructed of a wide variety of brightly colored blocks and hardly looked capable of flying. They boarded the ship and Donald and Goofy gave them all a quick explanation of all the controls, including what weapons the ship had. Apparently the Heartless where waiting in the lanes between worlds and attacking unsuspecting travelers there too. As they lifted off from Traverse Town Kairi could hardly contain her excitement. She had the feeling that her journey was just about to really start.


	7. Agrabah

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

Please read and review, your feedback helps me to write better stories.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Welcome to part II of Destiny's "Embrace". If this was a written book this is where the break would be between Book 1 and Book 2 and the writing style would shift a bit to accompany new things. So, that's what's going to happen. This is where things really start to change. We're half way done with Kingdom Hearts 1 at this point and things are going to move quickly. Reviewers kept asking what happened to Sora, and now you'll get to know. Enjoy. ;)

* * *

 _I am studying material from the meteors that rained down that fateful night. What a find! The material is foreign to our world. It is elastic to the touch, and when two pieces are combined, they bond easily. None of the records even mention such a substance._

 _Was it introduced to this world when I opened the door? I wonder how many other such materials drift through the atmosphere of this tiny world… I wish I could soar off and find out! Could there be uncharted worlds up there? My curiosity never ceases to grow._

 _But I should stop speaking of such unrealistic dreams. For now, there is no way to venture outside this world. My people and I are all but prisoners of this tiny place._

 _-Ansem Report_ 7

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Agrabah**

Keyblade struck Keyblade, the sound ringing out through the large room. Tendrils of darkness were met with bands of light as the two foes fought with all their might. One fought to save and the other to kill. Kairi was knocked back once more by her foes' powerful strikes, darkness splashing out from his black Keyblade with every attack. She only just managed to roll out of the way as her Riku leapt down on the spot she'd been laying, cracking the marble floor underneath. She responded by shooting a ball of light out of her Keyblade that struck her foe and sent him flying backwards until he somehow righted himself in midair, halted his flight and floated slowly back to the ground, a satisfied, evil grin that didn't belong on the face of her best friend.

Donald bashed his feathered hands against the invisible wall, his voice hoarse from screaming. Watching the tragedy unfold in front of him seemed to be his only choice. He hated waiting, hated doing nothing. Next to him stood Cloud, a mysterious young man with an obsession with finding his "light". He didn't know what it was, but he was tormented by demons that he apparently needed his light" to defeat. Donald didn't entirely understand his goal, but he could sympathize with the young man's difficulty in finding someone he was looking for. Cloud was watching the fight as impassively as he did everything else, but his knuckles were white as they wrapped tightly around the hilt of his sword. Behind Donald his best friend Goofy knelt, looking over the catatonic body of a brown haired young boy that Kairi had identified as her friend Sora. While he checked on Sora he couldn't help but keep throwing worried glances over at the fight happening behind the shield. Next to Sora sat Pluto, who whimpered slightly, licking Sora's hand to try to wake him up. Jiminy Cricket, chronicler and tiny survivor of the destruction of his world, watched events unfold from his current seat on top of Pluto's head, book in hand and a worried expression on his face

Behind them stood the large, fur covered monster who' been introduced to them simply as Beast. A low growl rumbled out from Beast as he watched the fight in anger. Donald didn't know much about him, only having met him a few minutes prior but in that short time he'd learned three things about the large man. One, he had apparently survived the destruction of his world through sheer stubbornness. Two, he'd come to Hollow Bastion following after a woman named Belle who was currently being kept in stasis in a tube back down the hall they'd come from. Three, he was Kairi's friend. Well, Donald could easily figure out a fourth thing. They shared something in common, they both hated waiting and being kept from doing anything.

"Fire!" yelled Donald, pointing his magic staff at the shield. A fireball shot out of his staff and struck the shield, splashing uselessly against it. "Raaagh!" he cried, stamping his foot angrily against the floor.

Beast gave a growl and struck at the shield himself. His claws slid against the surface of the shield, causing a flash on the hard light surface but nothing else.

Donald felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up angrily to see Goofy looking down at him. His face was unusually grave. He was usually cheerful and optimistic in any situation but he obviously didn't like the situation any more than Donald did. Everything about it was wrong.

"We need to get in there," stated Donald. "We need to help her!"

Goofy nodded. He looked over at Beast. "Maybe if we all attack it together we can get through?"

Beast nodded, growling and gathering himself. Energy started to gather around his claws as he drew it back for his attack. Goofy took a few steps back and magical energy caused his handheld shield to glow, getting brighter and brighter. Energy cracked and flashed like electricity over Cloud and his sword, causing his clothes to float upwards slightly. Donald gathered all of his magical energy to himself. Fire, blizzard, thunder, wind, gravity; he mixed all the different types he knew together into an attack more potent than any he'd ever used before.

As one the four companions struck out at the shield. There was a moment that Donald thought nothing was going to happen, but in the next the shield shattered with a loud crack. The whole structure collapsed under their attacks, hard light falling to the ground like glass shards but disappearing into nothing when they hit the ground. Donald didn't care though as he rushed forward, Cloud, Beast and Goofy all next to him.

So engrossed in their fight Kairi and her foe didn't notice the disturbance as they came together in yet another clash. Donald saw the events unfold in front of him. He watched in horror as the Keyblades missed each other and instead impaled the wielder of their counterpart. Strangely, Kairi's face was filled with triumph as her foe's filled with shock.

"Nooooo!" yelled Donald. Four hearts flew into the air, one covered completely in darkness. One flew past Donald, while another flew away through the ceiling. The third clean heart and the dark heart flew together through the suddenly churning heart shaped portal that stood behind where the fight had been taking place. Before Donald could reach Kairi her body and Riku's fell in opposite directions of each other, Keyblades still stuck in them. Their bodies struck the ground and Kairi's disappeared in a flash of light while Riku's disappeared in a cloud of darkness.

Donald, Goofy, Cloud, and Beast all stopped by the now fallen Keyblades. Donald shook his head. "No… This can't be…"

"We were too late…" muttered Cloud sadly.

Goofy cried softly, "Kairi…"

Beast just roared in frustration. "Raaagghh!"

 _How did it come to this…_ wondered Donald. _Things were going so well…_

* * *

Things were not going well. Donald was at the end of his rope. He had no clues on where King Mickey was, Heartless were everywhere and destroying worlds at an increasing pace, and it was really, really hot out currently. "Why can't we find some shade…" he muttered.

Next to him his newest traveling companion, Kairi, the Keyblade's chosen one, walked slowly through the sand, sweat running down her face. "I don't think there's any shade anywhere around here…"

Sadly, she was right. As far as Donald could see there was just sand. Hot, burning sand. If they didn't find water and shade quickly then he was going to be cooked enough to eat very soon. Goofy and Pluto both panted in similar manners behind them, both struck much harder by the heat. Donald could feel Jiminy Cricket shuffling around up in his hat trying to find a place to avoid the sun and heat. In front of them Cloud somehow managed his usual pace, the sand, sun and heat apparently not bothering him at all. He just smirked back at them, slowing down slightly to let them catch up.

Kairi threw her hands up in the air. "We're going to die here! Why did we come here anyways?"

"We're here to find clues to the King's whereabouts," grumbled Donald. They'd already had this conversation two times while dying in the heat. It wasn't getting any more pleasant.

"Which we know nothing about, right?" asked Kairi.

"We also need to find your friends and lock those Keyholes on any world we can to find," pointed out Goofy.

"And to find my light," reminded Cloud.

"And we have no clues or ideas about where any of that is," muttered Kairi.

Jiminy chimed in, leaning on the brim of Donald's hat. "And since we don't know anything, we need to search everywhere until we learn more."

"Why couldn't we take the Gummi ship onto the surface to search in it?" asked Kairi. "Wouldn't that be much easier?"

"No!" yelled Donald, short on patience at the moment. "We need to keep a low profile, blend in with the locals and not reveal the existence of other worlds if we can help it. It would disrupt the balance!"

"But you didn't do that on Traverse Town," pointed out Kairi.

Luckily Goofy cut in; stopping the rude string of comments Donald had planned. "That's because Traverse Town is special. And we were sent there specifically by the King to talk to Leon."

"Special?"

"Traverse Town is a world comprised of the remains of other worlds," explained Jiminy. "It's where what's left over after the Heartless destroy a world joins together and meets. Everyone there already knows about other worlds."

"Ah," muttered Kairi, slouching down in the heat, her pace slowing down. Donald was about to chastise her when he realized he was doing the same.

Suddenly a shadow covered Donald and Kairi for a brief moment before continuing on. They shared a moment of connection, their thoughts shifting from surprise, to relief, to urgency in a matter of seconds. When the shadow moved forward the two found their second wind and ran after it.

"Wait!" yelled Kairi, hand held out as if she could catch it.

Donald tried a different approach. Yelling very, very loudly. "Come back!"

Surprisingly, his strategy worked. The shadow stopped and Kairi and Donald both caught up, enjoying the relief from the sun. Then the shadow started to get larger and larger. Donald and Kairi looked at each other in confusion then both looked up. Above them, a rectangular silhouette was descending, getting closer and closer to crushing them. After exchanging another glance with each other, the two scrambled away.

Once out of the way Donald turned and finally got a good look at what had been creating the shadow. It was, strangely enough, a flying carpet with a young man sitting cross legged on it. On his shoulder was a small monkey wearing the same open purple vest as the young man, although without the baggy pants the young man wore. He looked around at the group as the rest caught up to Donald and Kairi. He flashed an apologetic smile at them. "Sorry about that, I don't think Carpet can see directly below himself. Well, I'm not sure Carpet sees at all really."

Donald thought he must be seeing things because he could've sworn that the carpet beneath the young man actually nodded in confirmation of his comment. Then he saw that everyone else was gaping at the sight and maybe he hadn't gone crazy just yet.

"Did that carpet just respond?" asked Kairi, her voice filled with awe. "And you're flying on it…"

"Oh, yeah, Carpet has a mind of his own," replied the young man. "He's not actually the strangest thing I've seen recently, so I guess I didn't think how others would see him." He rubbed the back of his head bashfully. "Not that you all aren't strange. And trekking through the desert on foot during the day? Not very bright. Uh, no offense meant."

"None taken," replied Goofy, cutting off the complaints Donald was about to voice. "We weren't really expecting to be in the desert."

"How close is the nearest town?" asked Jiminy, drawing surprised looks from the young man and his monkey companion.

The young man turned thoughtful. "Well, you'd probably still have a half-day's walk before you get to Agrabah. You'd also probably die from dehydration before then."

The group gave a collective sigh. Kairi looked over at Donald. "Now what?"

Before Donald could respond though the young man spoke up again. "If you want, and Carpet doesn't mind, would you like a ride to Agrabah? It's be much quicker flying."

"That would be great!" exclaimed Kairi. She looked down at Carpet. "Would you be okay with that?"

Carpet nodded again in that strange affirmative manner. Kairi smiled at the gesture. "Thank you!" Then she looked uncertain suddenly. "Will you be able to hold all of us?"

Carpet shook at that. Donald took it as a no. The young man started to rummage around a bag he had. "Don't worry, I think I have a solution to that. He pulled out a shiny copper lamp and started to rub it. "Wake up Genie. We could use some help."

Blue smoke started to come out of the opening in the lamp. It twisted around and around, eventually forming the rough shape of a person, minus legs. It was definitely the strangest person Donald had ever seen before though, and that was saying something. It was a man with a large torso, a red sash around his waist, a glowing blue tail where his legs should have been. He had a large smile on his face as he appeared, stretching and cracking his neck loudly. Donald, and everyone but Cloud, couldn't help but wince at the sound.

"Ah! Back out again!" said the man, Genie, the young man had called him. "Are you ready for your second wish yet Al? Last time you used it to get out of that kooky Cave, so here's to hoping something better comes out of this next one. I could give you biceps like you wouldn't believe, girls love the biceps!"

Aladdin just shook his head, laughing slightly. "No Genie, not a wish for now, just a favor."

"A favor?" asked Genie, finally looking down at Aladdin. When he did so he finally noticed everyone else standing below around looking at him in surprise. "Hey, who're your new friends?"

Kairi gestured to herself with a smile. "I'm Kairi." She gestured to everyone else in turn. "This is Donald, Jiminy, Goofy, Pluto and Cloud. How do you do?"

"Manners!" gasped Genie in mock shock. "So much nicer than a certain someone who was shocked, shocked I say, to see me!" teased Genie, looking at the young man.

"Hey, I wasn't expecting to find you in that lamp!" countered the young man, a smile on his face. "And who's the one who never uses my name?"

"You can't expect me to say Aladdin every time, it's such a long name!"

"No it's not!"

"You agree with me, don't you Abu?" asked Genie, leaning in towards the monkey on Aladdin's shoulder. The monkey nodded and sniggered.

Aladdin playfully swatted at Abu, who just dodged behind his back. "Don't take his side!"

Despite the heat Donald found himself laughing along with everyone else. Excluding Cloud of course, but Donald thought he saw a small smile on the man's usually grim face.

"So," said said Aladdin, looking back at Genie. "Could you possibly carry a person or two back to Agrabah? They're stuck out here in the desert and Carpet can't carry everyone."

"Is that all?" asked Genie, almost sounding disappointed. "You never ask me to do anything interesting or hard. Come on! I have phenomenal cosmic powers and you still have two wishes!"

"I've already got plans for those wishes!" protested Aladdin. "When we get to Agrabah you'll make me a prince so that I can talk to Jasmine. And the last will be to free you, like I promised."

Genie reached out and got Aladdin in a hold, ruffling his hair while the young man protested. "Aw, I know Al! I've just been cooped up so long in that lamp that I just want to do something!" Genie suddenly did a backflip in the air and was low to the ground in front of Donald, Goofy and Cloud. "You three hop on and ride AirGenie! The dog and the boy can ride with Al."

"I'm a girl!" protested Kairi.

"My bad!" apologized Genie. "Styles have changed a lot in one thousand years apparently and I'm soooooo behind the curve. Once I was a fashionista, but now I'm a has been! It's so tragic!"

Grumbling that it was fine, Kairi climbed onto Carpet. Pluto leapt up in a spray of sand, jumping over Donald and landing easily on Carpet. Donald climbed onto Genie, with Goofy sitting behind him and Cloud in the back. Carpet gently lifted into the air but Genie didn't move immediately. "Hey Carpet, want a race?" asked Genie. Carpet nodded and Donald saw Aladdin pale. Before he could voice a complaint though Genie was suddenly shaking. "Hold on tight, this is going to be a bumpy ride!"

In an instant Genie was airborne and Donald was holding on for dear life, his voice drowned out by the roaring wind. Looking over he saw Aladdin, Abu, and Kairi holding on tightly as Carpet sped along, trying to outpace Genie. Kairi also made sure to hold onto Pluto who was crouched down trying to avoid being blown off.

Donald didn't know how long it took to get to Agrabah. The trip felt like an eternity but the sun had barely moved by the time they landed. Tumbling off of Genie, Donald wobbled over to a basket and threw up in it. A shopkeeper glared at him and he smiled awkwardly. Before the shopkeeper could start chewing him out a woman wrapped head to toe in a cloak handed out a purse to the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper took it out and poured a large amount of gold coins into his hand. He just gaped at the cloaked woman. Donald looked up at the woman. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," said the woman, throwing glances over at Kairi and the others. Donald couldn't blame her, they stood out. He stumbled back over to everyone.

"So, where to now?" asked Kairi, looking a little queasy still.

"Well, I'm going to go off to meet Jasmine," said Aladdin. "Nice meeting you guys. Good luck at whatever you're doing exactly. Uh, what are you doing again?"

"We're looking for some people," replied Kairi. "Uh, lots of people. They'd probably stand out like we do. Have you seen anyone like us recently?"

Aladdin shook his head. "No, I haven't. Sorry."

"No problem," replied Kairi.

"Who's Jasmine?" asked Goofy.

Aladdin turned bright red and Genie leaned next to him, smiling slyly. "She's the daughter of the Sultan and the girl Al here has a crush on. He went into the Cave of Wonders and got my lamp just to impress her."

"And you want to become a Prince to impress her?" asked Kairi.

"Yeah…" admitted Aladdin. "I don't think she'll ever notice me if I don't become someone impressive. I'm just a street rat after all…"

"Aw, you picked us up in the desert, you're definitely a good guy!" commented Goofy.

"Yeah!" added in Kairi. "And I don't know what this Cave of Wonder's is like, but it sounds impressive!"

"It is!" chimed in Genie. "Traps and trouble like you'd never believe! And Al did it all!"

"Aw, it wasn't that much," replied Aladdin bashfully. "And Jasmine won't care about something dirty like that…"

"Why don't you ask her instead of assuming that?" came a voice huffily. Everyone turned around and Donald saw the cloaked woman from before facing away from them and looking way too absorbed in checking out some fruit.

"Well, she's probably not wrong," commented Kairi.

Aladdin just took a step forward. "That voice…Jasmine?"

"And if I was? Why are you assuming I wouldn't talk to you or be impressed by surviving the Cave of Wonders and bringing back a magic carpet and a genie! But no, apparently Princesses can only be impressed by princes and money because we're all shallow," complained the woman, not turning around to face them.

Aladdin looked completely shocked at the turn of events. "Jasmine…I…I didn't mean it like that. It's just…"

"Just what?" asked Jasmine, still not turning around. "Maybe I want to decide things for myself once. Maybe I'd already decided on talking to a great guy who I've seen help out others despite barely surviving himself. Maybe I wanted to get to know a great guy better. Maybe that was a mistake…"

"Whew, this isn't looking too good for Al," Donald heard Genie mutter to himself. Donald made sure to elbow him hard for that. Except he missed and instead ended up falling backwards onto the ground. Luckily, Kairi chose that moment to speak up.

"You both wanted to get to know each other but didn't know how to, right?" asked Kairi. Assent was muttered by both parties. "Well, why don't you two go on a date then? Get to actually know each other. It's what you wanted in the first place, right?"

"I suppose…" muttered Jasmine.

Aladdin took another step towards Jasmine. "I'm really sorry for saying those things about you. You're right, that was wrong for me to assume about you."

"And yourself."

"Huh?" asked Aladdin surprised.

"You weren't being fair to yourself," replied Jasmine. "You assumed you had no merits if you weren't a Prince. That's not true. Be nicer to yourself and maybe I'll go on a date with you."

Aladdin's surprise turned into a smile and he actually started to chuckle. "Hehe, thank you. I think that might be the first time someone's said something like that to me."

"Hey!" piped in Genie. "Magical best friend here! I've said you were awesome from the beginning!"

"That was just earlier today," countered Aladdin playfully. "But yeah, you're right. And you were still going to let me go through with the plan."

"Hey, your wish is my command. Literally."

At that moment Abu started to screech and pull on Aladdin's vest. The young man was surprised for a moment before laughing again. "You're right too." He hesitated a moment before finally gathering his courage and walking the rest of the way to Jasmine. "Jasmine, could you please give me another chance? You've shown me a whole new world, and I want to show you one too."

The cloaked woman finally turned around and removed her hood. Underneath was a young woman with long, luxurious black hair tied back near the end. Donald heard Genie whistle at the sight while Kairi muttered under her breath. "Beautiful."

Jasmine smiled at Aladdin. "I'd be happy to." She turned bashful suddenly. "And I guess I'll try not to scold you. I was doing something similar when I assumed how you were based just on watching you the few times I've snuck out of the palace. That was also wrong of me."

"Then we can try to get better together?" asked Aladdin.

"If you'll let me buy you dinner," winked Jasmine slyly. Aladdin's face blushed bright red at the comment.

"Uh, sure! Have you ever ridden on a magic carpet before?"

"Ah! Princess Jasmine, there you are!" cut in an oily voice. Donald stood up and turned around to see a tall man in red and black robes, a snake shaped staff in one hand. He could smell the stench of dark magic on the man, he was instantly identifiable as a "bad guy". The goatee didn't help. Flying around him was a red parrot who seemed to always be smirking. "What are you doing in such rough company? You need to come with me immediately! Your father will be so disappointed in you…"

Jasmine glared at the man. "I'm the princess and that means I need to get to know people outside the walls. If my father wants me to return to the palace he can come and get me himself. If he wants me to be happy he'll let me stay out here for the day."

"Well, it's a good thing we weren't taking you back to the palace anyways," sniggered the bird. "You're going somewhere else."

"Quiet Iago!" snapped Jafar. He turned back to Jasmine and gave a fake smile. "You will come with me. That is an order. I have plans for you. Your friends on the other hand…" Jafar raised his staff and the eyes of the snake glowed red. In an instant the whole marketplace was filled with enemies.

"Heartless!" yelled Donald, pulling out his staff and aiming at the nearest enemy. Goofy unlimbered his shield, Cloud pulled out his sword and Kairi summoned the Keyblade to her hand. Pluto just growled loudly.

"Genie!" yelled Aladdin, moving to protect Jasmine.

"On it Al!" A curved sword appeared in Aladdin's hand and he brandished it in a way that showed he knew how to use it.

Unfortunately, they were surrounded by humanoid Heartless that each had a sword of the same style in hand. Interspersed among this new style of Heartless were giant ones similar to the Large Bodies they'd encountered before but dressed in a stlye similar to Aladdin and the other inhabitants of Agrabah. All through the market the red pots that decorated the area suddenly sprouted legs and started to converge on them.

Jafar sneered at the surrounded group. "Come with me Princess or everyone gets hurt!"

"Don't do it!" cried Kairi. "We can take them." She smiled at everyone else. "Right guys?"

"Yeah!" replied Donald, holding his staff in the air. Cloud just smirked while Goofy nodded enthusiastically. Genie cracked his knuckles.

"Plan to hurt my friends do you?" asked Genie. He flexed his arms. "Prepare for the full might of these guns! Kapow!"

"Then so be it!" yelled Jafar. "Heartless, kill them!"

Then next few minutes were a blur as the Heartless army converged on them. Donald lost track of his friends, instead focusing on launching more spells than he ever had before. In between doing so he caught glimpses of Goofy spinning wildly through the enemy, Cloud chopping Heartless in half with every strike, Aladdin fighting off a Bandit after Bandit, destroying them with well-placed slashes empowered with fire magic, and Genie throwing Heartless, including the Fat Bandits, into the air and destroying them with blasts of magic. He also saw Kairi, fighting in her strange backhand style with her Keyblade, infusing magic into her attacks to make them more devastating.

In the middle of the chaos Donald realized something was wrong. In a brief lull he looked around and saw that Jafar and Iago were gone. And so was Jasmine.

* * *

Xion was getting worried. Roxas was supposed to be here by now. She paced in front of a stall, getting strange looks from passerby's. Maybe it was the fact she'd been waiting in the same spot for over an hour. Maybe it was the fact that she was clearly a stranger by how she was dressed. Or maybe it was that she was probably crazy being dressed head to toe in a thick black cloak in the desert heat, hood up. The heat didn't bother her. It never had, although she'd only had barely a month of experience to count as "never". Maybe it was something about her, she didn't know. At this moment, she didn't care. She just wanted to know where Roxas was.

They were on a mission together for the Organization. They were supposed to have met here an hour ago to start eliminating Heartless. Roxas had been running late because he'd needed to talk to Axel, but he shouldn't be running this late. Unless something had happened to him. Or he'd gotten lost or distracted. Those last two were more common than might be expected. Xion gave a sigh. She loved working on missions with Roxas, but this was ridiculous. And it's not like there was anything to do either. She couldn't start the mission herself. Her orders were strict; "weaken Heartless so that Roxas can destroy them with the Keyblade. No other weapon can be allowed to destroy them." So unless there was another person with the rare, and unique weapon, Xion couldn't do anything.

"Saix is going to chew us out…" complained Xion to herself. Caught up in her own thoughts she almost missed the screaming. She only noticed something was up when crowds of people were fleeing from the marketplace, pushing her aside rudely as they ran past.

She looked over at the commotion and saw that a large amount of Heartless had gathered, surrounding some of the strangest fighters she'd ever seen. A duck with a magic staff, a young man with spiky blond hair and a large bandage wrapped sword, a dog-man with a shield, a native of the world with a scimitar and a large blue man somehow throwing the largest of the Heartless into the air and destroying them there.

In the chaos she saw a red robed man teleport behind a woman in a cloak and silently kidnap her, removing her from the area without anyone noticing. Even when he was gone the fight raged on.

Xion wasn't sure what she should be doing. Just staying back and watching seemed wrong, but without Roxas and the Keyblade she couldn't fight. Orders were orders. But the strange fighters were already sending dozens of hearts into the air without the use of a Keyblade, which meant it wouldn't really be a waste to help them at this point, would it?

She was shocked though when she made out the last fighter. They were a girl with red hair and a practical fighting outfit that Xion admired. But beyond that she noticed that the red haired girl was using a strange weapon. The Keyblade. Xion's mind was made up in an instant. She could help and complete her mission at the same time. Then, after the fighting was done, she could find out how the girl had a Keyblade and if she knew what had happened to Roxas.

* * *

Roxas was completely and utterly lost. He'd meant to meet Xion at the marketplace, but after being delayed for nearly half an hour by Axel giving him advice on way too many random topics, he'd ended up teleporting to the wrong place. It was on the same world, that much he knew. That was about it though. He wasn't in the city but in a cave who knew how far from the city. The place was a maze and populated with Heartless. As soon as he'd appeared he's been swarmed. So, that being his original mission he'd gotten to work, trying to clear out as many Heartless as he could with the Keyblade.

But doing that had led him deeper and deeper into the cave. He wasn't a fan of using the dark portals either. Not only was he bad at teleporting to the right place, it just felt wrong using them. He knew the cloaks they wore protected them, but still the whole portal area smelled wrong. He was much more comfortable for both reasons traveling with others.

"I never should've told Xion to go on ahead…" muttered Roxas. He threw his hands up in the air in frustration. "What was she ever supposed to do without me? She doesn't have a Keyblade to kill Heartless with. I'm such an idiot!"

Suddenly Roxas heard voices and instinctively hid behind a large carved block. It was a stupid response. Heartless didn't talk and if they did he could handle them. Probably. But the talking meant it was people and a voice in his head told him he didn't want to meet anyone who would be walking around in a cave like this.

"I bet those dupes didn't even notice we snatched the Princess right from under their noses!" said a cocky voice. Roxas was mildly surprised to see the person talking was a smug looking parrot. "The looks on their faces will be priceless!"

"Quiet Iago!" said a man in a red robe. "We have Jasmine now, which means I'm that much closer to ruling Agrabah…"

"Are you going to brainwash her and have her marry you?" asked Iago. Roxas noticed an unconscious young woman in brown robes was floating along next to the pair. Surrounding them like an honor guard was a dozen sword wielding Heartless.

"That was my original plan, yes," replied the robed man. "But our benefactor who gave me control over the Heartless wants the Princess for herself. So instead, I'll be taking some of her power for my own needs now, and some of the power later that she plans to use Jasmine to obtain. Her little brat errand boy will be meeting us here soon."

The group walked past Roxas and he briefly considered going in the opposite direction and leaving the cave. Only very briefly though and the next moment he was following after them.

* * *

Xion took a running start before leaping over the swarm of Heartless. She chose her targets carefully, freezing them with ice magic. The Red headed Keyblade wielder only hesitated briefly before striking at the frozen Heartless, destroying them. She turned to look momentarily as Xion landed and grabbed a Fat Bandit that punched at her. She grabbed their arm, bracing herself as she'd been taught and threw the bandit into the air. The Keyblade wielder took advantage of that too. She cocked back her arm and threw the Keyblade into the air, boosted by magic. The Keyblade cut the Fat Bandit in half and then magically returned to her hand. A neat trick; she'd have to tell Roxas about it when they finally met up again.

So the battle went on. Xion kept freezing targets or throwing them towards the Keyblade wielder, helping her destroy as many as she could. Her efforts didn't go unnoticed by anyone in the fight but they were all too concerned fighting to question it.

Soon, the seemingly never ending wave of Heartless diminished until there were suddenly only a few stragglers who were promptly destroyed. Xion was proud of herself as the fight ended. She'd made the best of a bad situation. Maybe Saix would actually praise her for once?

Now with the fight over she found herself the center of attention of the strange group. She didn't think she had anything to fear from them, but she made sure her hood was firmly in place before talking. She didn't want anyone to see her face.

The Keyblade wielding girl was the first to approach her, a smile on her face. "Thank you for the help. Although it did seem like you were throwing a lot of Heartless my way."

"You handled yourself well," replied Xion. "I was curious though, where did you get that Keyblade from?"

"You know what this is?" the girl asked, holding up the Keyblade. "Well, I got it the night my Island was destroyed by the Heartless. I was told I'm the Keyblade's chosen wielder. Although I've also been told there are other Keyblade wielders. Somewhere." She became excited for a moment. "Do you happen to know any? Do you know Ventus or Terra?"

Xion was taken aback a moment. The girl's statement, and her excitement were surprising. She'd been told that Roxas was the only wielder of the Keyblade. To find out there were more was news to her. "Uh, I don't know those people," she replied. Before fully thinking through her answer she found herself adding more. "My friend Roxas has a Keyblade like that and I was curious if you'd seen him." Xion mentally kicked herself after saying so much, but she decided she might as well continue. "We were supposed to meet here but he never showed."

"And you thought we'd done something to him," stated the blond haired young man with the large sword. It wasn't a question.

Xion stumbled out an apology. "I'm sorry about that. I'd been told there was only one Keyblade and seeing it with you made me fear the worst."

The red haired girl just smiled gently at her. "It's fine. We all thought there was one Keyblade too."

The dog man looked thoughtful for a moment. "I wonder where the Keyblades come from or why everyone thought there was only one?"

"This isn't the time to wonder that!" rasped the duck, stomping his foot. "Jasmine was captured!"

"What?!" said the girl, the dog-man and the blue man at the same time.

The girl turned to the duck. "When did this happen?"

"During the battle," answered Xion, making everyone turn to look at her. "She was captured by a man in a red robe right before I jumped into the fight. He took her somewhere."

"We need to find her!" said the sword wielding young man.

"We will Aladdin," promised the Keyblade girl. "But first, we need to figure out where she was taken."

"The Palace?" asked the dog-man.

"I might have an idea," mentioned the blue man.

"What Genie?" asked Aladdin. "You know how to find them?"

"Well, my home security alarm back at the Cave of Wonders just went off so either someone is trying to rob an empty cave or decided to take up residence. Both of which are rude, by the way," complained Genie.

"Why would Jafar be there?" asked the dog-man.

"I don't know," admitted Aladdin. "Genie, could I wish for Jasmine back?"

"I sensed some powerful dark vibes off of that Jafar guy," replied Genie. "Not more powerful than me of course, but powerful enough to get in my way. A real pain in the you-know-what that guy."

"Could you I wish for you to take us to him then?" asked Aladdin.

"One travel service to an evil wizard?" asked Genie, a smile on his face. "Piece-o-cake! You wish it and I'll whip it up! I'll even include some strawberries and whip cream to top it off while I'm at it," said Genie with a wink.

Aladdin turned to everyone else. "Thank you for helping my fight off those guys. I hope you have luck in finding everyone you're looking for."

The Keyblade wielder took a step towards him. "What are you talking about?" she asked, frowning at him. "Of course we're coming with you!" She turned to her companions. "Right guys?"

"Of course!" cried the duck. "That guy gives magic users a bad name! Right Goofy?"

"Uh huh," nodded Goofy. "Kairi and Donald are right, we're not going to abandon anyone. Right Cloud?"

He looked at the sword wielder who just smirked. "People who use the darkness like that need to be punished."

"Thanks guys," replied Aladdin with a smile. He finally looked at Xion. "Well, thank you, good luck to you I guess."

Xion hesitated to answer for a moment. A very brief moment. "I'll come with you too. I saw her get captured and didn't do anything. Plus, I doubt Roxas will be appearing here if he hasn't already. I can find him later."

"Thank you," said Aladdin before turning back to Genie and pulling a golden lamp out of his bag. "Genie, for my second wish I wish that you take us straight to where Jasmine us!"

"One princess rescue express coming right up!" yelled Genie, snapping his fingers.

The world disappeared around Xion. Good thing Roxas wasn't here, he hated all types of teleportation.

* * *

Roxas almost wished he'd just teleported out of the cave he was in. Jafar was so pompous, slimy and smug and Roxas felt queasy just listening to him ranting to Iago about what he planned to do with Agrabah. They were in a room with large blocks on opposite sides of the room. On the far side from the doorway there was a wall that looked like it had the outline of a door but was still solid. Stairs led up to it, indicating some important function but not one Roxas could tell.

They'd been waiting around for a bit while the person Jafar was waiting for took a while to appear. Roxas was almost tempted to come out and smack the smug wizard with his Keyblade but the large amount of Heartless made that seem like a bad idea.

Then to his surprise, a dark portal opened up next to Jafar. He'd thought only members of the organization used the portals. But who walked out wasn't wearing the usual black cloak of the organization. The clothes were unfamiliar to Roxas but the face was familiar, disturbingly so. A silver haired boy with eyes filled with hate. The body, the face and the hair were familiar, but the eyes were something Roxas could never have imagined attached to the rest. The boy said something quietly and handed a swirling purple-black orb over to Jafar. Jafar smiled at the orb and waved his hand absently. Jasmine floated over and the silver haired boy grabbed her in his arms. He turned back towards the portal and put one foot into it.

As he did so Roxas suddenly found himself running out from cover and towards the boy. "Stop!" he yelled, causing everyone to turn to look at him. The silver haired boy regarded him in almost a bored manner. Roxas didn't care though, he just wanted answers. "Who are you? Why do you look like her?!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," replied the boy simply before stepping completely into the portal. Roxas ran forward a few more steps but the portal disappeared before he was anywhere near it. He stopped and stamped his foot against the ground in anger. "Damn it!"

"Who are you to intrude upon here, boy?" asked a voice. Roxas looked up at Jafar who was floating in the air and sneering down at him. "Do you expect to get out of here alive you fool?"

Roxas wasn't sure about that because he realized that he was now surrounded. The Bandit Heartless had circled around him, brandishing their swords menacingly. Lost, no answers, and likely death. Axel had just chided him earlier that day on being careful on missions and what did he not do? Be careful. The lecture he was going to receive was probably going to be worse than the death he was most likely about to face.

He summoned his Keyblade to his hand, enjoying the look of surprise on Jafar's face. "Another one?" sneered the man. "I thought there was only supposed to be one? No matter, I'll figure it out after I kill you."

"Bring it on!" yelled Roxas. Before he could move though he was surprised by a sudden flash of light and a loud banging noise. Oh, and by seeing a whole new group of people suddenly in front of him. One of them he recognized. "Xion?"

* * *

Xion decided she liked using the dark portals more than Genie teleportation. They were much gentler, although this was probably faster. It was always hard to tell when teleporting. One second in the marketplace, the next she's in a cave, surrounded by more Heartless and facing Jafar. Her attention was drawn behind her though as she heard a voice.

"Xion?" Xion turned around and saw a confused Roxas standing behind her, his Keyblade out ready to fight. "What're you doing here?"

"Roxas!" she exclaimed, turning around to hug him. "What're you doing here? Is this where you've been the whole time? I've been waiting for you!"

"Sorry," replied Roxas, rubbing the back of his head bashfully. "I got kind of lost and couldn't find my way out."

"Jafar!" yelled Aladdin. "Where's Jasmine?"

"That is of no importance to you," sneered Jafar.

"Jasmine is the girl in the brown robes, right?" asked Roxas. "She was taken by someone else."

"Who?" asked Xion, curious now about what her friend had gotten himself in.

Roxas hesitated momentarily, looking away from her for some reason. "A boy. With silver hair and angry blue eyes…"

Xion was shocked by her friend's words. It couldn't be. Was this the same boy who had haunted her through her brief life?

"Wait, a silver haired boy?" asked Kairi, turning to face Roxas, shock on her face. "Did you hear a name?"

Roxas shook his head. "No, I didn't. But uh, Xion, what's going on?"

"I'm not sure I can explain it quickly," she replied with a slight smile, although no one could see it under her hood.

"Hey, isn't one of your friends a silver haired boy?" asked Goofy, looking at Kairi.

She nodded. "Yes, Riku. He also has blue eyes."

"Are you fools done ignoring me?!" yelled Jafar, drawing everyone's attention back to himself. "Heartless, kill them!"

The Bandits leapt into the air to attack the group. Roxas let go of Xion, and the two leapt into action with everyone else. In a matter of moments, the Heartless were all defeated. Aladdin pointed his sword at Jafar. "You've lost Jafar! Surrender and bring back Jasmine!"

Jafar suddenly started to laugh. "I can't do the second and there is no need for the first!" He held up a ball of darkness above his head then crushed it in his fist. Dark tendrils shot out and surrounded everyone, trapping them.

Genie just laughed. "You think this can hold someone of my awesomeness and phenomenal power?" he asked. "You must be daffier than Daffy Duck!"

Jafar laughed again. "No, that won't." He suddenly held up his hand and Xion saw the golden lamp Aladdin had rubbed earlier sitting in Jafar's grasp. "But that won't be a worry! Genie, for my first wish I want you to make me an all-powerful Genie like you!"

"No!" yelled Aladdin, struggling at his bonds.

Genie's face paled and he looked like he was struggling but raised his hands anyways. "I'm sorry Al…" he apologized. He covered his eyes with one hand and pointed at Jafar with the other. A beam of light shot out and hit Jafar. Red smoke suddenly filled the room and the ground shook and fell apart. The dark tendrils broke apart as everyone plunged into the room below.

Free from the tendrils, Xion righted herself and landed easily on the ground below, which was made up of a large number of large stone blocks. Roxas landed slightly harder, but kept standing. Around her everyone else landed. The flying carpet that had been with Aladdin flew around and caught the dog and the monkey, stopping them from plunging into a pool of lava. Donald and Goofy landed together in a pile. Cloud and Aladdin both managed to land easily on their feet. Kairi landed on her butt, hard. "Ow…" muttered the Keyblade wielder, standing up slowly and massaging her behind.

Genie floated down slowly, defeat written on his face. Jafar was nowhere to be seen but Xion noticed Iago flying around at the edges of the new room, a black lamp clutched in his talons. Suddenly, the ground shook again and the lava around them started to stir. A giant red genie flew out of the lava, screaming.

"I AM ALL POWERFUL!" yelled Jafar. "HAHAHAHAHA! I don't need a Princess with this power! I can just take Agrabah through force and nothing can stop me!"

"We will!" yelled Kairi, holding her Keyblade in a backhand style.

"Yeah!" yelled Donald, standing up and pointing his staff at Jafar.

"Uh, how're we going to do that?" asked Goofy, looking at his friends uncertainly but still at the ready to back them up."

"Through force," muttered Cloud, holding his sword at the ready.

"It can't be done…" muttered Genie sadly. "He's got all my power but none of the charm. He's got his power too. I bet he could bench press a castle and kick my patootie while doing so…"

"The lamp!" exclaimed Aladdin, pointing at Iago, who was flying around the outer edge of the room with a black lamp in one hand and the golden one in the other. "He has the lamps. We just need to grab the black one and wish him away."

"Now you'll all die!" yelled Jafar, swinging his hand down. Aladdin dodged out of the way and where he had been standing sunk into the lava, leaving a gaping hole in the platform. "Stay still!"

"You go for the lamps!" Kairi yelled at Aladdin. "We'll hold him off!"

"Got it," nodded Aladdin. He looked up. "Carpet!" The flying carpet from before flew down from the hole in the ceiling where it'd been depositing the dog and monkey to safety. Aladdin jumped on as Carpet flew past, just in time to dodge a fireball thrown by Jafar.

"I'll crush you, street rat!" yelled Jafar, summoning more balls of fire.

"We won't let you!" yelled Kairi, cocking back her arm. Magic gathered in her Keyblade and she threw it at Jafar. He swatted at it but it exploded in a massive blast of wind and light energy, knocking him back against the wall of the room. Before he could recover and attack again he was barraged by a variety of magical spells from Donald. Goofy spun around and then threw his shield through the air, hitting Jafar directly between the eyes. The shield bounced off of Jafar, then off of a wall before finally, miraculously, hitting Iago. The parrot gave a cry of surprise and dropped the black lamp. The black lamp tumbled out of Iago's talon and fell onto a platform at the edge of the room. Iago knocked his suddenly free talon against Genie's lamp. "Genie! Protect me and the lamps!"

Genie's expression turned pained again. "Your wish is my command…" he muttered dejectedly. He pointed his finger at Aladdin who was speeding over on Carpet to Jafar's lamp. A blast of magic shot out and hit the two, knocking them down onto another platform that sat alone in the middle of the river of lava. "I'm so sorry Al!"

Xion had seen enough. She turned to Roxas. "We need to get that lamp and stop this!"

"How do we do that?" asked Roxas, looking worriedly between Genie who was moving to protect the lamps and Jafar who was in the middle of fighting Kairi, Donald and Goofy, and beating all three.

A large form walked up from behind Xion, drawing her attention and she saw Cloud, his face neutral, sword in hand. "I'll hold off Genie," ordered Cloud. You two get that lamp."

"We can't fly!" protested Roxas.

"I don't think I can jump that far," muttered Xion. Suddenly, an idea occurred to her. She smiled at her friend. "Come with me, I think I know what to do."

As they ran off they suddenly heard a crackling noise and Cloud shot past them, golden electricity flashing around him. "Yah!" he yelled, flying over the lava in a single bound and reaching Genie. He swung his sword, knocking Genie away from Iago and the lamps. They crashed into the far wall and Cloud continued to rain blow upon blow on Genie with the flat of his sword, keeping the powerful blue man pinned down.

Over by Jafar Kairi, Donald and Goofy were pulling off perfectly coordinated teamwork with what looked like little effort. Kairi and Donald used their magic to keep Jafar contained while Goofy always had the two covered and protected, no matter what Jafar threw at them. Sadly, the trio were visibly tiring, the magic coming slower and slower and in one instance Goofy barely managed to stop a blast of fire from hitting Kairi.

Xion started to run faster, far out pacing Roxas. She might not have a Keyblade but her physical abilities were far above a regular persons and Axel had mentioned might be the best of anyone in the Organization, at least all around.

"What now?" asked Roxas, lagging further and further behind Xion as they approached the end of the center platform.

"Throw your Keyblade as hard as you can!" yelled Xion, putting on another burst of speed as she finally leapt off the edge and into the air over the lava. She heard Roxas yelling and she saw Roxas's Keyblade flying underneath her. She managed to use magic to firmly plant her feet on the Keyblade and then sent out a blast of wind magic, propelling her and her new ride across the lava filled chasm.

Iago had been using the chaos to fly down with Genie's lamp towards Jafar's. He'd been close to retrieving Jafar's but Xion came flying through, almost hitting him with Roxas's Keyblade before it flew past and embedded itself in the wall. In his surprise Iago let go of Genie's lamp and Xion watched in horror as it tumbled down towards the lava. Before it could hit the lava though a purple blur came out of nowhere and grabbed it. Aladdin held the lamp triumphantly in his hands, a broad smile on his face as Carpet flew the both of them to safety.

Xion looked down from her perch and saw Iago trying to retrieve Jafar's lamp. She back flipped off of Roxas's Keyblade and landed right next to Iago, a smile on her face. "This is mine now," she said, reaching down for the lamp.

Iago just looked at her in fear. "Uh yeah, whatever you say…" then he fled, leaving the cavern through the hole they'd fallen in through. Xion picked up Jafar's lamp and yelled as loud as she could.

"Jafar!" yelled Xion, drawing the giant red genie's attention. His frustrated expression turned to shock as he saw Xion with the lamp.

"What is this sorcery!" yelled Jafar.

"I wish you'd be sealed inside of this lamp!" yelled Xion. Jafar let out an inhuman scream as red smoke engulfed him, twisting around in a vortex and bringing him violently into the lamp in Xion's hands. Jafar reached out and tried to fight the wish, but in the end it was futile and his cries were ended as the lamp completely absorbed him. Xion then gripped the lamp tightly in one hand and reached up to grab Roxas's Keyblade in the other. "Roxas!"

Her friend held out his hand and recalled the Keyblade, calling it through the air instead of teleporting it. The Keyblade flew through the air, Xion holding on tightly and trying not to think about the lava below her. She made it to the center platform and let go, dropping to the ground as the Keyblade finished flying to Roxas's hand. She flashed him a triumphant smile that she knew he couldn't see under her hood but was surprised by the grave expression he was giving her. Around her she saw shocked expressions on the faces of Kairi, Donald and Cloud as they gathered around.

Roxas pointed urgently to her head. "Xion, your hood…" he hissed.

Fear engulfed Xion as she realized what was going on and she reached out and covered her head once again with her hood. Sadly, the damage had already been done.

Donald charged forward angrily. "Why do you look like Daisy!" he accused.

Kairi also took a step forward, confusion on her face. "Daisy? She looks like Riku, but that can't be possible…"

Cloud's face clouded with anger as he moved past everyone else and put a hand tightly on Xion's shoulder. "WHO ARE YOU?!" he yelled. "I can see the long hair, but everything else is obscured by light… Tell me!"

"Let go of her!" yelled Roxas, pushing Cloud aside. The young man was so disoriented by whatever it was he was seeing that he let go easily. Roxas glared at the other group angrily. Xion surveyed the faces and her heart sunk at their words. Like usual, no one was going to see her for her, just those that they cared most about. Her gaze settled on Goofy who had a look of curiosity on his face as he rubbed his chin with his hand.

"Hmmm," muttered Goofy. "Are you sure you see Daisy, Donald?" asked Goofy. "I just see a young girl with black hair…"

Xion couldn't believe the words. They were the ones she'd never expected to hear. She just gaped at Goofy. "You can see me?" she gasped.

"Well, of course I can?" asked Goofy, confused. "Should I not be able to?"

"What is going on here?" asked Kairi.

"None of your business," growled Roxas protectively.

Xion put her hand on her friend's shoulder. "Roxas, it's okay. I…I want to explain…"

Roxas flashed her a worried expression. "Are you sure?"

She nodded. "I am." She looked over the four gathered companions. "I'm not human. I can't really explain what I am, but it has a weird effect. People see me as the person they care about most in the world…"

"So that's why I see Daisy?" asked Donald, calming down a bit.

Xion nodded. "You must care about her very much…"

"Then, what am I seeing…" muttered Cloud.

"Maybe it's your light?" asked Kairi. "You don't know what they look like after all. But I'm seeing Riku, and he's one of my best friends, but the person I care about the most?"

Roxas spoke up before Xion could answer. "This Riku, you said he was the silver haired boy I saw before?"

Kairi nodded uncertainly. "That definitely sounded like Riku. But I don't know why he would be here or taking Jasmine…"

Roxas took a step forward and gripped Kairi's shoulder. "Why do I see him when I look at Xion?!"

"Wait, what?" asked Kairi confused. She looked over at Xion. "You see him too?"

"Yes, and I've never met him before today," replied Roxas. He let go and looked down dejectedly. "I wanted to be the first to see Xion…"

"But I saw a black haired girl?" asked Goofy.

Xion smiled at the dog-man and felt tears coming to her eyes. She was glad the cloak hid her reaction, but her voice was still thick with emotion as she spoke. "You saw me as I see myself in the mirror. I never thought anyone else would ever see that…" Her voice became choked up and she barely managed to get out her next words. "Thank you…"

"Uh, you're welcome," replied Goofy bashfully.

Roxas turned around to look at Xion. "Xion, we should go now. We're running late already and Saix is going to be angry."

Xion reached inside her hood with her empty hand and wiped her face clean of tears and snot with a sleeve. "Okay." She held out her other hand, holding Jafar's lamp up to Kairi. "Here. Can you deal with this?"

Kairi smiled at her and nodded. "Yeah. Thank you for your help. I hope we can meet again."

"Me too," replied Xion honestly.

Roxas nodded. "Yeah. You'll have to explain that Keyblade to me next time."

"Same," replied Kairi.

Roxas and Xion took a few steps back and Xion held out her hand. A dark portal appeared in front of them, causing Kairi, Donald and Goofy to gasp in surprise at the sight. Roxas grabbed her hand and together they walked into the portal. Saix was going to be pissed…

* * *

"That was strange," muttered Kairi, looking at the spot Xion and Roxas had just disappeared from. She looked down at Jafar's lamp in her hand.

"What do we do with it now?" asked Goofy, scratching his head.

"Bwack?!" Donald said in surprise, looking down at his feet. Kairi did the same and realized a carpet of sparkling light was lifting her up into the air.

"First stop, the way out of here!" declared a voice proudly. Kairi looked up and a smile lit up her face. "Genie!"

"The one and only!" yelled Genie flying down and around the group as they lifted up slowly from the lava filled room. "Notice anything different about me?"

Kairi looked but couldn't figure out what Genie was talking about. Goofy was apparently much more observant though. "Those band thingies on your wrists are gone!" said Goofy.

"Correctamundo!" declared Genie, snapping his fingers and causing fireworks to fly out of them. They finally rose out of the hole and were deposited safely away from it. Aladdin was standing nearby, a frown on his face as Abu, Carpet and Pluto all watched him worriedly.

Once Kairi was firmly back on solid ground she walked over to Aladdin, holding the lamp out to him. "Here, this is Jafar's lamp."

He took it, scowling at it. "Thank you." He looked up at the group and gave them a genuine smile. "Thank you, all of you. You stopped Jafar, and I don't know how to properly thank you for that…"

"It's nothing," replied Kairi with a smile. "He was using the Heartless, that meant he was our problem too. Too bad we couldn't save Jasmine…"

"That's my fault…" remarked Aladdin.

"No it's not!" protested Kairi.

"Yeah!" cried Donald.

"Jafar captured her," commented Goofy.

"And we were all there too," insisted Kairi.

"But I didn't do anything fighting Jafar either…" said Aladdin.

"You saved Genie's lamp!" insisted Donald.

"And don't I appreciate it!" exclaimed Genie, flying over and giving Aladdin a bear hug. "You used your last wish to free me! I didn't think I'd ever have a friend like you!"

Genie let Aladdin down and the young man smiled bashfully. "I did promise you I would, didn't I?"

"Yeah, but I was sure you'd use it to rescue Jasmine," replied Genie. Then he turned bashful. "Sorry for doubting you pal…"

Aladdin put his hand on Genie's shoulder. "No, I did consider it, but a promise is a promise and you're my friend. I'll just have to save Jasmine another way."

"We can do it for you," declared Kairi. "We're traveling around anyways. We'll find her and rescue her."

"Yeah!" exclaimed Donald. "You can count on us!"

"That's right!" said Goofy with a smile.

Aladdin smiled at them. "Thanks you guys. You're good friends."

"Uh, do we still need to find the Keyhole?" asked Goofy.

Kairi nodded. "We probably should before we leave."

"How do we find it anyways?" asked Donald.

"I don't know," admitted Kairi.

"What are you guys looking for?" asked Aladdin.

"Well-" started Kairi before the Keyblade appeared in her hand suddenly and started to lift up on its own. Kairi followed where it was pulling her towards, turning around to face a strange alcove in the wall on the other side of the hole in the room. The alcove looked like a doorway and the outline started to glow. A Keyhole appeared in the center of the alcove and Kairi gripped the Keyblade in both hands and concentrated on closing the Keyhole. A beam of light shot out of the tip of the Keyblade and went into the Keyhole. Soon there was a clicking noise and Kairi knew instinctively that their work on Agrabah was over.

She turned back to a confused Aladdin, Genie, Abu and Carpet and smiled at them. "That. It'll stop the Heartless from destroying this world. And It's our cue to leave. Don't worry, we'll save Jasmine and bring her back."

Aladdin held out his hand to Kairi. "Promise?"

Kairi took it. "Promise."


	8. Atlantica

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

Please read and review, your feedback helps me to write better stories.

* * *

 _There is no doubt that the Heartless are deeply connected to the people's hearts. Further study may unravel both their motivations and the mysteries shrouding the heart._

 _As a start, I have built a device that artificially creates Heartless. By recreating the conditions that spawn the Heartless naturally, I should be able to produce them artificially. This device is the culmination of all my research thus far. The machine's test run successfully created a Heartless._

 _-Ansem Report 8 (Incomplete)_

* * *

 **Chapter 8A: Atlantica**

* * *

Kairi sat in the co-pilot chair of the Gummi ship watching the readings on the control panel as Donald flew the ship. Pluto rested at her side while Jiminy relaxed on the brim of Donald's hat, writing notes in his book. Sitting in a seat behind them was Cloud, quiet and lost deep in thought. Behind him, and a safe distance from the controls, was Goofy. When she'd first come aboard she'd asked why he wasn't sitting in the co-pilot seat. He'd rubbed his head bashfully while Donald had explained in an exasperated voice the terrors that happened when Goofy piloted the Gummi ship. Goofy was, to put it lightly, a bad driver. So, far from the controls he stayed, for everyone's safety.

As she stared at the controls, Kairi's mind wandered away from the read-outs and to their quest. Riku, Sora, the King, Alice, Pinocchio, Geppeto, Cloud's light, Jasmine, Zack, Ventus, and so many more. The list of people she'd promised to find kept getting larger and larger and she was getting nowhere. She barely knew who many of the people she was looking for were, just that they were important to friends of hers. That was all she needed to know to want to look for them, but she didn't know where to start.

"Hey, Kairi," came a small voice. She looked up from the controls to see Jiminy looking at her from Donald's hat. His book was resting in his lap. "Would you be willing to tell me what each of those patches on your jacket means? I know you told us that they appear when you make connections with people, but it's getting fuller and fuller and I want to keep records of everything I can."

Kairi smiled at Jiminy. "Sure, I can do that. Where do you want to start?"

Jiminy pointed at one of the patches on Kairi's jacket, a golden lamp with blue smoke coming out of it. "This just appeared on Agrabah, correct?"

"Yeah," nodded Kairi. "I guess the Jacket makes one for each of the worlds I've gone to so far."

Jiminy put his hand on his chin as he thought aloud. "I wonder, is each patch connected to a world, or a person on the world?"

"I think it's a person," replied Kairi. She pointed to a cloud with a lightning bolt coming from it. "I think this one represents Hercules from the Olympic Coliseum." She pointed at a miniature patch version of Cloud's Sword. "And this one is Cloud."

"So, it's connections with friends?" asked Jiminy. Kairi nodded.

"Gwarsh, I'd loved to meet this Hercules guy," commented Goofy from the back of the ship. "He's a hero correct?"

"He is," replied Kairi with a smile. "And very strong."

"Hey, we're Heroes too," said Donald, looking away briefly from the Gummi controls. "We could take him!"

"Maybe… He trained me when I ended up at the Coliseum with Pluto," continued Kairi, reaching down and scratching the dog on the head. Pluto's foot thumped contently against the floor of the Gummi ship. With her free hand she pointed to a patch closer to her shoulder, a silhouette of Pluto. "This came with the jacket when the gods of Mount Olympus put it in my locker."

"Which other patches came with the jacket?" asked Jiminy.

Kairi pointed to several of the patches, stopping at each one to say what they represented. She pointed to a black shuriken. "Yuffie." A pair of red angel wings. "Leon." A green tree and treehouse. "Tarzan and Jane." She pointed to a blue and white stripped heart that was the last of the original designs on the front. "Alice…"

"That's the girl who got kidnapped?" asked Donald.

"Yeah," nodded Kairi sadly. "By Mr. Clayton. He was possessed by the Darkness…"

"What was Alice like?" asked Goofy.

"She was my age, and curious," replied Kairi, remembering her interactions with the blonde girl and the adventures she'd witnessed at the trial to prove Alice was innocent. "She followed a Rabbit into Wonderland. I followed Pluto so we're pretty similar I guess. She was strong, she never went along with any of the Queen's lies, even when she was threatened. In the Jungle, she went looking for me. Once I was found she tried to find Sora and Riku to help me out. She has a pure heart and was a good friend, even though we'd only just met. I guess I just felt a connection immediately…"

Kairi was brought out of her memories by Donald snickering. She looked over at him, frowning. "What's so funny?"

"Someone's got a crush!" teased Donald.

Kairi felt her whole face turn hot in embarrassment at the comment. "I do not!"

"You do!" insisted Donald. He looked over at Goofy. "Right?"

Goofy chuckled. "You were smiling the whole time while talking about her."

"Now, now, it's nothing to be ashamed of," chuckled Jiminy. "Love's a great thing!"

Kairi was bright red and she turned to Cloud. "Tell them they're wrong!"

Cloud slowly opened his eyes and looked up at Kairi. "Your heart doesn't lie," said Cloud simply, his expression completely serious.

Kairi jumped out of her seat, startling Pluto and almost hitting Donald as her arms swung about. "That's not it!"

"Bwak!" cried Donald. On Donald's hat, Jiminy was holding on to the brim with one hand and his book with the other as he was flung about.

Kairi stomped her foot on the ground angrily, tears in her eyes. "That's not it… She's my friend and I let her get captured. I need to rescue her and apologize…"

Everyone was quiet in the Gummi ship for a moment, the only sound the hum of the engines. Goofy stood up, walked over to Kairi and pulled her into a hug. "You didn't do anything wrong." Kairi hugged Goofy back and started to cry into his jacket.

"Don't worry, we'll find and save her!" cried Donald confidently.

"Thanks…" sniffed Kairi. "We'll find everyone…"

* * *

Tifa planted her feet solidly on the ground and raised her arms to block the incoming punch. Unfortunately for her she wasn't blocking a regular punch. Hercules hit her guard and in a flash of lightning she was sent flying. Tifa flipped through the air, fighting to gain control of her momentum. She succeeded slightly, managing to plant her feet against the wall she slammed in to. She braced herself and absorbed the impact, the stone cracking below her feet. She wasn't quite able to recover from the attack though and collapsed to the ground on her knees, lightning still crackling around her.

"Good block," complimented a voice. Tifa looked up and saw Hercules holding out a hand, a smile on his face. She grabbed his wrist and stood up with help, the ground still shaking slightly underneath her.

"Not good enough," muttered Tifa angrily.

She heard the clopping of hooves and turned to see Phil walking towards her. "Hey, Herc can punch Cerberus from here to Olympus. You're a twig compared to that."

"Could he do the same to Cloud?" asked Tifa. "Did they ever fight in the Coliseum?"

"Herc and Spiky-hair?" asked Phil, laughing slightly. "Nah, they never got to duke it out. The little junior hero saw to that!"

Tifa's face twisted in confusion. She hated talking to Phil. He made no sense most of the time, but he had good advice when he did. That meant she couldn't just ignore him. She really wanted to sometimes though.

Fortunately, Hercules was used to dealing with his teacher. "Cloud made it to the semi-finals and lost to a student of mine, Kairi."

"Cloud lost? How strong is your student?"

Hercules just smiled. "She has potential. I would say Cloud is stronger except he was distracted during the whole fight. I don't think he really wanted to be in the tournament. Something haunts him."

Tifa laughed ruefully at that. "Yeah, that sounds like Cloud."

"How do you even know a guy like that?" asked Phil. "He wasn't exactly the chattiest bloke on the block."

"We grew up next to each other," explained Tifa.

"Is this going to be some cheesy romantic childhood friends slash star crossed lovers deal?" asked Phil skeptically.

"I wish," replied Tifa, her eyes defocusing as she fell into her memories. "Cloud and I grew up next to each other, but we weren't friends. Our parents knew each other, and occasionally we talked, but I had my friends and he…did things by himself. It wasn't until after my mother passed away that I really talked to him. I was…devastated. I didn't want to talk to anyone. I didn't want to play with anyone. I just wanted my mother back…I went walking around the cliffs behind the village. I didn't even notice as my friends stopped following me. I only noticed there was someone there when I accidentally fell off a cliff and saw myself dragging Cloud with me."

Tifa went silent for a moment. Hercules motioned to a bench and the three of them walked out of the arena and sat down. Phil had to clamber up with a huff of exertion because the bench was too tall for him.

"I don't even know when he started following or got behind me," muttered Tifa, going silent again.

After giving her a moment, Hercules gently nudged her on in her story. "What happened next?"

Tifa intertwined her fingers in her lap before continuing. "I don't really know. I was in a coma for seven days. When I woke up it was to almost a different world. Everyone was worried over me, crying about how Cloud had led me to the cliff and endangered my life. I tried to convince everyone that hadn't happened, but the damage was already done. Cloud was treated horribly by the village for something he didn't do. I started to notice him more, to watch him. He became angrier and got into fights often."

Her hands clenched together tightly, her knuckles going white. "Then, one day I got a letter from him, asking me to meet him by the well that night. He'd been on my mind more and more lately but I didn't really know how I felt about him. I don't think I really _felt_ anything yet. So, I snuck out that night and met him. We sat watching the stars and he promised to me he was going to go off and become stronger and join the elite unit SOLDIER. Then he'd come back just to protect me."

"Ugh, it's a sappy love story," muttered Phil. "Give me a nice Greek tragedy instead any day…"

"Did he succeed?" asked Hercules, ignoring Phil.

Tifa shook her head. "I don't know. I waited for him to return, but he never did. I read the news to see if they mentioned him, but his name never came up. Eventually, I decided I was sick of waiting. I sought out the martial arts master in the village and convinced him to train me. I wanted to know what had happened to Cloud. I hoped as I trained he'd return as a member of SOLDIER and be impressed with me. It was a stupid childish fantasy. When I'd mastered my training I finally decided enough was enough. I went looking for him. I made it to the capital of Midgar, where I thought I'd be able to find him, but suddenly the world was consumed by darkness."

"The Heartless," commented Hercules. "They got your world like they did Kairi's."

"Yeesh," winced Phil. "I'm glad she locked that Keyhole thingy before heading out. Not that you couldn't take them Herc, but Hades is enough of a pain in the patootie without those things."

"I guess that's what it was... All I know is that I didn't want to give up. Suddenly I found myself in a place called Traverse Town. I searched and searched, but no one else I knew was there. No one from my world, and still no one could tell me where Cloud was. So, I worked at a bar for a bit, made a deal for a ship with a cranky old man and headed out. The Coliseum was the only place I'd found a lead and Cloud disappeared right before I could finally meet him again. To apologize…" Then, almost too quietly for Hercules to hear, she whispered something under her breath. "But at least I know he's alive. He exists…" A small smile appeared on her face as she stared off at the sky and the stars that were starting to appear in the sky.

Hercules joined her in looking up at the sky. "I'm sure they're all okay…"

* * *

Cloud was definitely _not_ okay. He'd been sitting quietly in the back of the Gummi ship trying to not get motion sickness, or even let on that he was susceptible to such, when a fight had broken out. Donald and Kairi had had a disagreement on which world to head to next. Kairi had thought the world marked with the giant pumpkin face on their map was the place to find Riku, Sora and everyone else in the long list of people they were looking for. Donald had insisted that the king he was looking for would never be in such a place and instead demanded they head to a world that was represented by a giant clock tower on the map. Goofy and Jiminy had tried to moderate between the two but eventually they both reached for the flight stick of the ship and pulled.

This had caused the ship to tilt dangerously in the opposite direction of either world. Cloud had crossed his arms, closed his eyes and started counting, hoping to keep his last meal down. The next thing he knew there was more screaming, the feeling of them briefly hitting something before continuing onward as if underwater. Cloud had opened his eyes and seen that they were in fact now underwater and still careening towards the ground. There had been screams about bracing and then the Gummi ship had hit the seafloor, shattering apart into hundreds of pieces.

Cloud had expected to find himself unable to breath as the cold water closed in around him. A warm light had touched him and he'd found breathing and moving in the water easy. It was only as he looked around at the others had he realized why that was. Goofy had asked Donald after their trip to Agrabah why he hadn't just transformed them to look closer to the natives so they blended in, as that was apparently his specialty. Donald hadn't responded to the question, instead turning away in embarrassment. He'd apparently remembered Goofy's question.

Goofy had been turned into a sea turtle with the same face, his shield on his back. Donald had turned himself into an octopus, at least on the bottom half. His top half was still the same, just without a shirt. Cloud caught a glimpse of himself in a polished shell laying on the ground. His clothes had disappeared, revealing his bare chest, sword strapped across. His lower half had transformed like Donald's, but instead of an octopus his legs had been fused together into a shark tail. The shell he was looking at had suddenly started scuttling away, spindly legs visible underneath as the creature muttered under its breath about inconsiderate voyeurs. Pluto had been turned completely into a yellow eel, his dog-like features still visible around his face.

Kairi had been the weirdest though. Her clothes had zipped together along every seam to make one single suit. Around her head was a solid, spherical bubble that closed along the collar of her new, now airtight suit. She'd looked around at everyone in confusion and Donald had just shrugged to say he hadn't done it.

Nothing more could be said between them though as they'd been attacked by Heartless and fought in the most awkward battle Cloud had ever experienced. He had had no clue what he was doing moving around in the water or how to properly do it. None of them had. They'd only been rescued as a young woman with vibrant red hair and the lower half of a fish had swum in, destroying all the Heartless swiftly with magic as she swum past. Once they were all safe she'd introduced herself as Ariel, Princess of Atlantica. Donald and Goofy had made up a story about them being from unfamiliar seas but Cloud had caught the curiosity in Ariel's eye as she asked Kairi if she was a human from the 'surface' and the girl had awkwardly answered yes.

What had followed was a long, tedious training session led by a talking red lobster by the name of Sebastian who had taught them all how to swim, move and fight in the water. Kairi had had the hardest time, not being part sea creature like the others but eventually Sebastian had managed to figure out a way to teach her too. While he did that, Ariel had asked question after non-stop question, trying to find out everything about them, why they were there and especially about the 'surface world'.

They'd carefully explained about the Heartless, that they were looking for a large number of people and that their 'vessel' had been destroyed and they needed it to leave. Ariel didn't know anything about their friends but promised she could help them repair the Gummi ship. So, once they'd been completely trained in swimming, they'd set off on the most tedious mission Cloud had ever been on.

The worst part was that Kairi and Donald wouldn't stop arguing about whose fault the whole thing was. They spent hours bickering as the search dragged on and on and on. Occasionally they'd stop to gather some new 'knick-knack' or 'thingamabob' for Ariel's 'collection', depositing it in a satchel. She made them swear to never talk about it though with her father if they ever met him. Goofy had agreed readily, Cloud had muttered his assent and even Donald and Kairi had taken a few seconds away from their arguing to agree. Then they'd gone right back to arguing.

Collecting the Gummi blocks had been easy, if extremely tedious. Until now. When they'd just needed the engine block to complete the ship, disaster had struck. The sea had gone dark as a giant shadowy octopus shaped Heartless had descended on them, grabbing the Gummi ship in one of its tentacles. It had then proceeded to try to crush them with its free tentacles. Cloud had blocked one tentacle with his sword but found a second blind siding him and knocking him away from the others. Then the Heartless squirted a large amount of black ink into the water, making it impossible to see anything.

And now here he was. Disoriented, annoyed and trying to figure out which way to swim to beat up the giant Heartless. He started to swim in a direction but found his progress halted briefly as two pairs of large yellow eyes jumped out of the ink at him. Her swung with his sword, destroying the two shadows before continuing onwards.

His swim to rejoin the others soon fell into a pattern of swimming, stopping, killing shadows, and continuing swimming. He tried to let out his frustration on the shadows but each time a new one appeared he just got more and more frustrated. He was also getting worried. The others were competent fighters, but he wasn't there to protect them. If they got hurt, it would be his fault for stupidly getting knocked away and lost when they needed him.

He'd only known Donald, Goofy, Kairi, Jiminy and Pluto for roughly a week but he already felt a connection to them. They were bound by a promise and a common goal. They all wanted to battle the darkness, although in different ways. Cloud's own darkness might be of a more personal nature, but he could still relate to the others. They were also entertaining and decent people. They were his friends. He didn't remember much before he'd been transformed by the darkness and consumed by the name 'Sephiroth' but he knew what a friend was and what you did for your friends. You were there for your friends and Cloud knew he wanted to be there for them, all of them. Even Ariel and Sebastian, despite only knowing them for a few hours. He'd never felt the need to connect to people before, but now he never wanted to lose those connections.

Cloud saw yet another pair of beady yellow eyes in the murky darkness and prepared to swing at them but stopped mid swing as a green and yellow blur burst out of the darkness, destroying the shadow. He found himself face to face with Goofy and couldn't help letting out a sigh of relief as he saw the large smile on the turtle-dog-man's face.

"Cloud!" exclaimed Goofy. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," replied Cloud. "What about the others?"

"I haven't seen them," answered Goofy worriedly. "I hope they're okay…"

"Me too," agreed Cloud honestly. He gripped his sword with both hands. "Let's go find them."

Goofy nodded enthusiastically and they charged together through the darkness, always making sure they could see the other. Soon they heard magic being cast and together they destroyed several Heartless that had grouped together and surrounded Ariel and Sebastian.

"Thanks," said Ariel, brushing some hair away from her face. Hanging on by a claw to her hair Sebastian couldn't help but gripe.

"Ja, these guys are gone, but they keep on comin'! What are we goin' to do?" he asked worriedly.

"I think that larger one is making them," replied Ariel. "We just need to find and destroy it!"

"Can either of you get rid of this darkness?" asked Cloud, looking at Goofy and Ariel. They both just shook their heads.

"I tried," replied Ariel. "My magic isn't strong enough."

"Maybe if we also had Donald?" suggested Goofy. "Kairi is good at light magic, maybe she could help?"

"Then we find them first," declared Cloud. He was glad to have a reason to go after the two. Two voices had started warring in his head. One wanted to find Kairi and Donald to make sure they were safe. The other said to forget them and to destroy the giant Heartless. It would be so easy. All he had to do was tap into the power of darkness deep inside of him…tap into the power he'd been given by Sephiroth…

Cloud shook his head to fight off the doubts in his head and together the three of them swam off, Sebastian still holding onto Ariel's tail. Suddenly a beam of light cut through the darkness, cutting paths in it. Swimming into one of these newly made paths Cloud saw Kairi and Donald fighting together to ward off the tentacles of the giant Heartless as it reached out from the remaining cover of darkness.

"We need to help them!" yelled Ariel, suddenly swimming much quicker and outpacing Goofy and Cloud. Cloud also swam as fast as he could but he knew as a novice swimmer he'd never make it in time. Despite her speed even Ariel wasn't close to Kairi and Donald as a tentacle reached out to crush Donald. Busy dealing with another tentacle he was unable to move out of the way. In the last second before he was grabbed though Kairi pushed him out of the way. The tentacle retracted, Kairi crushed in its grip.

Ariel sped past the tumbling Donald and fired a blast of wind at the giant Heartless, creating a small whirlpool. The whirlpool hit the Heartless dead center causing it to flinch slightly, but Kairi stayed captured. "Nothing's working," said Ariel as Cloud and Goofy swam to her side.

Donald floated next to them, finally managing to shake off his disorientation from Kairi's last minute save. He just gaped up at the Heartless. "She saved me…" he muttered. Then more loudly, "We need to save her!"

"How do we do that?" asked Goofy, also looking worriedly up at the Heartless.

"We hit it with everything we've got," replied Cloud. "Together. Choose your strongest spells."

"I'm not really a magician," commented Goofy.

Cloud just smiled. "But you are tough. Ready to hit that thing hard?"

Everyone nodded agreement and started to gather magic to themselves. Goofy put up a shield spell around himself and nodded that he was ready. Cloud held his sword like a bat, lightning crackling over it. He then swung, hitting Goofy with the flat of the blade. As he did so Ariel and Donald released wind and ice magic at the same time. The three magics mixed together into a hurricane of water, thunder and ice and propelled Goofy, in the center of it all, towards the Heartless. Goofy spun round and round, keeping the magic going around him even as he struck the Heartless. He kept spinning even as he tore through the edge of the giant Heartless's body, ripping off all but two of its tentacles and causing the beast to finally recoil.

Cloud, Ariel and Donald cheered as Kairi floated out of the Heartless's clutches. One of its remaining tentacles reached up towards her while the other reached out towards the disoriented and still dizzy Goofy. The Keyblade appeared in Kairi's hand and glowed blindingly bright. She threw the Keyblade in a strike raid that spun as a disc of light, cutting straight through the Heartless. The two halves of the Heartless disintegrated as a large pink Heart flew free, flying up through the water and to the surface.

"We did it!" cried Ariel, clapping her hands together in joy.

Still hanging on to her tail Sebastian let out a groan. "Oh, the King is going to be mad when he hears about this. He don't like no giant monsters in his waters! Strangers either now that I'm thinkin' 'bout it. So much trouble…"

Kairi and Goofy floated down towards them. "Don't worry," comforted Kairi towards the agitated crustacean. "Our ship is free and the Heartless had the engine. We'll be leaving as soon as we find that Keyhole. That'll protect this world from more like it."

"Something like that could be anywhere!" cried Sebastian. "I mean, not that I don't like you or anything, but this is almost too much!"

Ariel cut in at that moment. "You're looking for a Keyhole, right? I think I might know where that is."

"Really?" asked Kairi, a bright smile on her face. "Lead the way!"

As they followed Ariel, the Gummi shipped being towed with ropes by Kairi, Donald, Goofy and Cloud, Pluto swam up to Kairi's side, letting out a happy bark. Donald just glared at him. "And where were _you_ when Kairi was grabbed?" he asked.

"Thank you for saving me," said Kairi, smiling at everyone.

"You saved me first," replied Donald. He looked away from her bashfully. "Thank you."

"No problem!" replied Kairi happily.

"That's what friends do," said Cloud without thinking. He saw everyone staring at him in surprise. "That's right, isn't it?" Large smiles grew on their faces.

"Ah'yuk!" laughed Goofy. "That's right!"

"I don't think I've ever heard you talk this much," commented Donald.

"You consider us friends?" asked Kairi excitedly.

"Of course," replied Cloud. Then, less confidently, "aren't we?"

"Of course!" shouted Donald, Goofy and Kairi at the same time. Cloud felt his face blushing in embarrassment and turned away from his friends, a smile on his face.

Ariel had just been watching the exchange, giggling at it with a smile on her face. "Oh, it's so nice to have so many wonderful friends!" she exclaimed.

"You're our friend too, you know," replied Kairi. "If we can be yours?"

"Of course!" laughed Ariel. Her gaze became distant and her expression wistful. "I wonder if I'll ever get to go to the surface world and make more wonderful friends like you?"

"I'm sure you will," exclaimed Goofy. "Lots and lots!"

"Oh, don't go givin' her any ideas now!" complained Sebastian. Despite all his complaints and worrying Cloud could tell that he truly cared for and worried about Ariel. He just had only one way of showing it.

"Here we are," interrupted Ariel, gesturing to a cave opening. "Follow me! This is where I keep my collection." They left the Gummi ship floating outside the cave and swam down the tunnel. After a minute they emerged in a large cavern that stretched up and up to the surface of the sea. Decorating every bit of wall, crevice or nook was an object, knick-knack or other strange or damaged piece of junk. What Cloud saw as junk though Ariel apparently considered treasure. Her eyes were filled with wonder as she surveyed her collection, carefully bringing her newest finds into specific spots where they matched with what was already there.

"Isn't it neat?" asked Ariel, twirling around happily in the water.

"It's amazing!" marveled Kairi, apparently just as fascinated by the stuff.

"That's a lot of forks," commented Goofy, looking at a container holding nearly a hundred unique such utensils.

"Oh, is that what those are called?" asked Ariel. "What are they for?"

"Eating," replied Kairi.

"Really?" asked Ariel, studying the forks intensely. "People on the surface are strange…It's amazing!"

"Where's this Keyhole?" asked Cloud, trying to get things back on track. He was sick and tired of swimming all the time and couldn't wait to have his legs, and his shirt, back.

Ariel clapped her hands together as she remembered why they were there. "Oh right!" She swam up to a section of the cavern wall. "Right over here!"

Everyone swam up after her and Cloud saw a large Keyhole engraved in the rock. Ariel looked at them. "Is this what you're looking for?"

"Let's find out," commented Kairi, lifting the Keyblade. She pointed it at the Keyhole and both Keyblade and Keyhole started to glow blue. A light shot out of the Keyblade into the Keyhole and a clicking sound reverberated through the cavern. Kairi smiled as she lowered the Keyblade. "That was it. It looks like we'll be leaving then."

"Have a safe trip!" bid Ariel. "Good luck on finding your friends!"

"Thank you," replied Kairi.

"Good luck on your collection," said Goofy.

Sebastian just shook his head. "There you go encouraging her again…"

* * *

Yuffie walked into what she had dubbed their "secret hideout", humming a catchy jingle she'd just heard playing on a radio. Although everyone knew where it was, she thought the name added a level of fun mystery to things. She appreciated anything that helped to liven up her days. As she walked in she saw Aerith and Leon both sitting quietly on the one bed of the house, papers in hand. She walked over to them and bent down. "What'cha looking at?"

Leon didn't even look up as he answered. "Aerith's managed to decode eight of the thirteen reports we scavenged from the ruins of Hollow Bastion. We're checking them over to see if there's anything useful in here about fighting the Heartless, finding the Keyholes or about the Keyblade."

"Booooring!" exclaimed Yuffie, grabbing a piece of paper sitting on the bed next to Leon and taking it's spot. She read it aloud, " _Much of my life has been dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. That knowledge has guarded this world well. Not a soul doubts that. I am blessed with people's smiles and respect. But though I am called a sage, there are things I do not understand. I believe darkness sleeps in every heart, no matter how pure. Given the chance, the smallest drop can spread and swallow the heart. I have witnessed it many times. Darkness...Darkness of the heart. How is it born? How does it come to affect us so? As ruler of this world, I must find the answers. I must find them before the world is lost to those taken by the darkness_." When she was done she looked up at her friends. "Wow, this is depressing stuff."

"Yeah," agreed Leon. "That's the first one in the set, as far as we can tell."

"Ansem the Wise was apparently a deeply troubled man," commented Aerith, looking up from what she was reading. "I remember thinking of him from my brief visits to the castle as a bright and kind sage. I wonder…is this where the darkness started for him? Or was it always there?"

Leon shook his head. "I don't know," he held up the paper in his hand. "But this is definitely connected to the increase in Heartless lately. Get this: _There is no doubt that the Heartless are deeply connected to the people's hearts. Further study may unravel both their motivations and the mysteries shrouding the heart. As a start, I have built a device that artificially creates Heartless. By recreating the conditions that spawn the Heartless naturally, I should be able to produce them artificially. This device is the culmination of all my research thus far. The machine's test run successfully created a Heartless. This may be a step toward creating a heart from nothing. The artificially and naturally created Heartless showed nearly identical traits. But the two types remain distinct for the purpose of the experiment. So, I will mark the ones that are created artificially_."

Yuffie looked at Leon in surprise. "He was creating Heartless?! Why would he do that?"

"Curiosity maybe?" replied Aerith. "These reports express a desire to know more." She held up the paper in her hand. "This one details him finding a door below the castle and letting the heartless in. Then the walls between the worlds was shattered. I think the material mentioned in another report is Gummi blocks. I talked to Cid and he confirmed that he remembers the meteor shower mentioned in this report and his first encounter with a Gummi block. He became one of the first and foremost Gummi engineers when that happened."

They sat silently for a moment after that. Yuffie kicked her feet through the air, her face scrunching up in thought. "But, what happened to Ansem when Hollow Bastion fell?"

"No one knows," replied Leon. "As Cid tells it, he became more and more reclusive until one day he just disappeared completely. His apprentices ran things for a while but then they all disappeared. Then Maleficent and the Heartless appeared. You know the rest…"

"So, he could still be out there?" asked Yuffie.

"Most likely his heart was taken by darkness," replied Aerith. She shook her head sadly. "This is what happens when one tries to control darkness and the Heartless. We can't let anymore worlds fall to them. We have to protect the worlds and restore the balance."

Yuffie laid on her back on the bed, holding the paper up to the light. "When we finally do all that, what happens to this place. And if the walls around the worlds are restored, will we ever be able to see all of our friends again?"

The room became silent again for several moments before Leon stood up and walked over to the window. "I don't know," he said gravely, not turning around to face them. "But whatever happens, we still need to do it. For the sake of all the worlds…"


	9. Halloween Town

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

Please read and review, your feedback helps me to write better stories.

* * *

 _This may be a step toward creating a heart from nothing. The artificially and naturally created Heartless showed nearly identical traits. But the two types remain distinct for the purpose of the experiment. So, I will mark the ones that are created artificially._

 _-Ansem Report 8 (Second Part)_

* * *

 **Chapter 8B: Halloween Town**

* * *

Xion and Roxas just stood stock still as Saix examined them. Like expected, he hadn't been happy that they'd returned late from their mission to Agrabah or that they'd killed less Heartless with the Keyblade than ordered to. He'd made them stand for the last seven hours holding buckets of water in each hand since returning and Xion felt like her arms and legs were about to give out. To compound the torture, Saix had hung signs saying "Late" around their necks. Laughing and snickering could be heard from Organization members walking past. Larxene had stopped and spent a whole ten minutes teasing them before walking off. Xion persevered though, knowing it had to be even harder on Roxas. He wasn't as physically strong as her, but he'd still managed, with visible effort. Hour eight was starting to appear and Saix still hadn't said a word, just watching them from his seat. They hadn't said anything either. They'd agreed to keep what had happened on Agrabah a secret, at least until they could find out more about why there was a second Keyblade and who Kairi really was. Saix was determined to make them talk without even asking any questions though.

"Don't you think you've tortured them enough?" asked a voice. Xion and Roxas turned to see Axel, their friend and fellow Organization member leaning up against one of the white walls of the castle. His fiery red hair and lanky build were the only clues to who he was under the thick black cloak of the Organization that he wore.

Saix turned and looked impassively at Axel. "They failed the mission. There need to be consequences."

Axel gave a lazy shrug. "And you've made that abundantly clear. Now, why not let them go?"

"Why should I do that?" asked Saix.

"Because I asked?" laughed Axel, a bright smile on his face.

"And will you take their punishment?"

"Sure, sure," agreed Axel, waving his hand lazily as he walked over to Xion and Roxas. He put his hands on their shoulders and leaned down between them. "How about we go get some ice cream at the usual spot."

Roxas and Xion looked over at Saix before responding. The Head of Operations just gave an over exaggerated, tired sigh. "Fine. You are free to go. But remember, you will not get off lightly next time."

"Understood!" replied Roxas and Xion as one. After realizing what they'd done they both started laughing, their postures finally relaxing.

Axel let out a laugh of his own, ruffling the hair of the two now complaining teens. "I'll meet up with you at the clock tower once I'm done having a word with Saix.

"See you there!" said Xion, dropping the buckets of water, removing the sign around her neck and hurrying out of the room.

Roxas did the same, following her out, a grin on his face. "Thanks Axel!"

"No problem!" shouted Axel after them. When they were out of view the smile disappeared. He looked over at Saix. "That was a bit much."

"So is your acting like you actually have a heart," commented Saix, walking over to him.

Axel shrugged. "We all do it. Although sometimes I think those two might really still have their hearts."

"That's impossible for a Nobody."

"Well, those two are special," commented Axel. "I wouldn't put it past them."

"No matter. Did you complete your mission?"

"Of course I did, who do you think I am? I found the place, right where Lord Xemnas said it would be. Per orders I checked out the outside, examined the door and didn't go inside."

"And your report?"

"It'll be on your desk in the morning. With copies."

"Just the one this time," replied Saix. "Less of a trail."

"There's more to this than a simple Castle stuck in a dimension of its own, isn't there?"

"You will be informed when, and if, you need to know."

"Yeah, yeah, I get the drill." Axel started to walk away before looking over his shoulder once more and grinning at Saix. "See you tonight?"

"Of course," replied Saix simply. "Someone has to take Xion and Roxas's punishment."

"Looking forward to it," laughed Axel, walking out of the room. It was always a pleasant surprise when Saix acted like he had in Axel's memories. Back before their old lives had ended, replaced by their new torturous existences.

* * *

"So, remind me how we got in this mess again?" asked Donald, looking up at Kairi.

"Hey, I said I was sorry!" replied Kairi, holding her Keyblade at the ready. "How was I supposed to know this place would be overrun with Heartless?"

"There's no use pinning blame," pointed out Goofy. "We all agreed we'd go to this world next."

"Enough chatting," commented Cloud "I think the big idiot is about to speak."

"Now I say!" yelled Oogie Boogie, standing up on a ledge above them. He was a large man created entirely from sackcloth. Occasionally when he spoke brightly colored, and glowing, bugs would fly out of his mouth. "I'm standin' right here you know! Such rude guests you are!"

Donald stamped his foot angrily on the roulette slot beneath him. "You're not the one trapped in a death trap!"

"That's because I'm the fabulous Oogie Boogie!" yelled Oogie Boogie, laughing as he pulled a lever. The ground beneath Kairi and her friends started to rotate and giant scythe blades and robot men with revolvers in hand started to whirl to life and move towards them. Their situation wasn't helped by the several dozen Heartless milling dangerously around them. There were two types, floating ghosts with eyes hanging out of their sockets by threads and flying gargoyle like Heartless. The situation wasn't very good, and that was putting it lightly.

They'd arrived on the world no problem and Donald had disguised them to look like they belonged. That had meant Donald turning into a bandage wrapped mummy, but without anything beneath the bandages. Goofy had gained an outfit that looked stitched together, and went with the stitches covering his body and separating discolored parts of his body. He'd also gained a large screw going through his head and Kairi thought it looked painful but he didn't seem to mind. Cloud's clothes had stayed the same but he'd gained a pair of fangs. Kairi's clothes had been turned black, her jacket zipping up and extending to become a short dress over her pants. She'd also gained a witch's hat. Pluto was sleeping in the Gummi ship where they'd left it in orbit around the world.

Kairi found their covert outfits to be weird, but the world somehow managed to be even weirder. The whole world looked like a graveyard, with gravestones and ghosts flying everywhere. The town they found themselves in, a sign declaring it to be Halloween Town, looked like someone had fashioned a mausoleum into a town at random. Creepy statues randomly decorated the area, turning their heads to look at and follow the friends as they made their uncertain way through Halloween Town.

Donald had been the first to notice the Heartless. "Heartless!" he'd yelled, pointing his staff at a ghost that had the Heartless crest on its chest. There was a dozen of them, twirling around the Town Square. "Fire!" fire had shot out of his staff and struck one of the ghost's dead on, destroying it. Kairi and the others had immediately pulled out their weapons to prepare to fight only to find that they weren't suddenly surrounded by Heartless. The ghosts hadn't even moved. They just stayed were they were, twirling in place in the Town Square.

Kairi looked around in confusion. "Why aren't they attacking us?"

"Maybe it's a trap?" suggested Donald.

"They look like they're dancing," commented Goofy.

"That is because they are! And who, are you?" asked a dramatic, booming voice. Kairi looked over and saw a form slowly rising out of the fountain. He was the tallest man she'd ever seen, with thin, spindly proportions. He was wearing a pin stripe suit and looked surprisingly proper. Especially considering that he was a skeleton. And he looked very displeased.

"Heartless?" whispered Donald, confused.

"Can Heartless talk?" replied Kairi, also whispering.

"He doesn't have a crest," observed Goofy.

The skeletal man stepped out of the fountain and looked over their group.

Kairi took a step towards the skeletal man. She gestured to herself and then her friends. "Uh, I'm Kairi, this is Donald, Goofy and Cloud. We're uh, travelers. We're not really used to seeing dancing Heartless. Are they really not dangerous?"

The skeletal man's expression turned quizzical. "Heartless?" suddenly comprehension dawned on his face and he snapped his fingers. "Of course! That's what they're called! Yes, yes, they're completely harmless! Maybe you came across a meaner variety? These Heartless will be this Halloween's scariest attraction! I've topped myself for once, if I do say so myself."

The skeletal man looked so proud of himself after his speech and he was making a triumphant gesture, leg up and bent on the edge of a wall as he held his fist up and out and looked off majestically in the distance. Kairi and her friends just stared for a minute in surprise at their strange new acquaintance while Heartless danced behind him. After a moment the skeletal man finally noticed that they were still standing around staring at him.

"Oh! My apologies! Now that we cleared that up I forgot to introduce myself! I'm Jack Skellington, and welcome to Halloween Town!" He gave a deep bow to them. When he was done bowing he looked excitedly at them. "So, you've encountered the Heartless before?"

"Yeah," replied Kairi, nodding.

"Too many times to count," added Donald. Meanwhile Goofy had his fingers out and was trying to count the Heartless they'd met but got confused after counting to seven.

"Why do you want to know?" asked Cloud.

"Because if you've met so many of them then you could help the Doctor and I in our experiments to understand them!" replied Jack excitedly. "They just appeared one day, looking like they were looking for something. Very peculiar. They haven't hurt anyone and they make fantastic dancers!" Jack looked over his shoulder and studied the Heartless for a moment. "Or they will, with a little work."

"I'm not sure that's really a good idea," commented Kairi worriedly. "The Heartless eat the hearts of people and worlds."

"They plunge everything into Darkness," muttered Cloud.

Jack stroked his chin. "Hmmmm…. That _is_ troubling. But I'm not the scientist, just a curious party. Why don't you follow me to the Doctor's place and we can discuss it there?"

Kairi looked at her friends. "I think we should. They might also know where our friends or the Keyhole are."

"I doubt what I'm looking for is here..." muttered Cloud.

Aw, you never know!" cheered Goofy. "All you gotta do it think positive and everythin' will turn out alright in the end!"

"Yeah!" smiled Kairi. "We've got to think positive."

"And seal that Keyhole," reminded Donald.

"That too." Kairi looked back over at Jack. "Ok, we'll come with you."

"Then onward!" cried Jack, turning hard on his heel and taking long strides out of the Town Square. Kairi and her friends followed him through the creepy, but oddly friendly streets of Halloween Town. As they did so they were greeted by dozens of horrifying monsters of all shapes and sizes but each one was polite and friendly to a fault. Jack was obviously revered by the townspeople, even by the literal two-faced mayor who stopped Jack to have a conversation on how progress was towards preparing the Heartless for the upcoming Halloween.

While the two talked a group of monsters came up to their group to ask Kairi and everyone questions. Their curiosity, and compliments on how scary they were, was almost too much. Kairi found herself unable to answer the rapid-fire questions coming from all sides but was saved as a group of witches pulled her briefly aside to compliment her outfit and ask her how witches outside of Halloween Town acted and used magic. She showed them the Keyblade, summoning it from thin air to impressed clapping and gasping. Then she threw it high into the air and recalled it to her hand. She blushed a little under the attention.

"Impressive, but can you fly with it?" asked one of the witches curiously, hopping on the broom in her hand and flying in a small circle before landing back on the ground.

"I haven't tried," admitted Kairi. "I don't think so?"

"Well, that's alright dearie!" said a second witch. "When you're done helping out Jack why don't you come see us and we'll show you how it's done!"

"Uh, thank you," replied Kairi.

Jack finished his conversation with the mayor at that point and shooed away the curious townspeople, herding his little group the rest of the way towards their destination. It turned out to be a house that was weird even by the standards of Halloween Town. It was isolated slightly from the rest of the town, laying on the outskirts. The house itself was made completely out of metal. When they walked in Kairi realized it was more like a mad scientist's laboratory from the old black and white movies the Mayor used to watch back on Destiny Island.

"Jack Skellington, always a pleasure to see you!" came a high-pitched voice. Kairi saw a small man wearing a lab coat and sitting in a wheel chair. "What brings you here? And who are your companions? I don't think I've ever seen them around before."

"They're new to town Dr. Finkelstein," replied Jack. "This is Kairi, Donald, Goofy and Cloud. Friends, this is Dr. Finkelstein, the smartest man in town!"

"You embarrass me with the truth Jack!" cried Dr. Finkelstein bashfully. His face turned serious as he turned and yelled up the staircase behind him. "Sally! Come down and make tea for our guests!"

"Coming Doctor!" came a woman's voice. A moment later a woman made of stitched together parts and clothes came running down the stairs. She stopped and smiled politely at the group. "Hello Jack."

"Good to see you again Sally," replied Jack with a sweeping bow. Sally turned away quickly and rushed into the kitchen where the sound of banging pots and pans could be heard.

"Now, where were we?" asked Dr. Finkelstein. "Oh, yes! The reason for your visit. Why do you bring these visitors before me?"

"Because they're experts on the Heartless!" declared Jack excitedly.

"Nonsense!" replied the Doctor. "If I'm not an expert on something, then no one is!"

"It's true!" declared Donald. "We've met more Heartless than you could imagine!"

"And they're more dangerous than you think," insisted Kairi. "They're made from the Darkness in people's hearts and eat hearts!"

Dr. Finkelstein turned his wheelchair around and sent it towards an operating table where a small object rested. "Nonsense!" he declared. He picked up the small object and brought it back to them. "The Heartless appeared here after I made this, and they listen to me while I have it. They're no danger to anyone."

Kairi studied the object and realized it was a fake heart constructed out of pipes and cloth. It pulsated in the Doctor's hands. What was slightly odd was the keyhole placed in the Heart. She looked back up at the Doctor and shook her head. "You may be safe for now, but the Heartless eat the hearts of Worlds and plunge them into Darkness."

"That does sound troubling," admitted Jack. "Is there any way to prevent that?"

"With this," replied Kairi, summoning the Keyblade to her hand. "With this I can lock the Heart of the world, protecting it. It's the Keyblade."

"Hmmm…an interesting toy," commented Dr. Finkelstein. "But once again, there is no need to worr-"

He was interrupted by a loud explosion coming from outside. Immediately everyone ran outside. Outside where the remains of a large stack of fireworks, but no one around it. Dr. Finkelstein drove his wheelchair past everyone else and eyed the fireworks. "Blasted noise! This must've been the work of those hooligans Lock, Shock, and Barrel! Always getting in the way of real scientific progress for their stupid pranks!"

There was suddenly a loud crashing noise from inside the laboratory. The sound of breaking glass. Everyone ran back inside to see a small boy wearing a bone white mask collapsed on the operating table. "Aw, don't leave me!" he cried.

"Barrel!" cried Jack, pointing at him.

Barrel looked over at Jack, took off his mask, stuck out his tongue and leapt through the broken window and out of the laboratory. Dr. Finkelstein once again pushed past everyone and gave a cry of horror. "The Heart! Those hooligans stole the Heart!"

"We need to get that back!" cried Donald.

"But who was that?" asked Goofy, scratching his head.

"That was Barrel," explained Jack. "He and his friends Lock and Shock are local pranksters who work for Oogie Boogie." He became thoughtful, his hand stroking his chin and his gaze staring off into the distance. "I wonder why they stole it though…"

"Who's Oogie Boogie?" asked Kairi.

"A thug and a thief," complained Dr. Finkelstein. "Sally! Clean this mess up!"

"Yes Doctor!" Sally rushed out of the kitchen with a broom and dust pan and quickly started to clean up the shattered glass fragments.

Dr. Finkelstein then slammed his fist against the armrest of his wheelchair. "And what about that tea you fool girl!"

"Hey!" yelled Kairi, taking a step forward. "Stop bossing her around like that!"

Dr. Finkelstein turned and growled at Kairi. "You stay out of this! She's my daughter, I made her!"

"That doesn't make her your slave!" cried Kairi.

"You have no right to make that judgement!" declared the Doctor, turning his wheelchair to face Kairi. "You're just some random traveler!"

"You're a bad father then!" declared Donald, looking glares with Dr. Finkelstein. Meanwhile, Goofy walked past him and started to help a protesting Sally to clean up the glass fragments.

"We'll make it our business," declared Cloud, drawing surprised looks from everyone but the still spaced out Jack. "We'll get your Heart back, and in return you treat her nicer. Deal?"

Dr. Finkelstein stared in surprise at Cloud for a moment before scowling. "Fine! Get the Heart back from those hooligans and maybe I'll consider doing so. Just get going already!"

"It's not a maybe," threatened Cloud. With that he turned around, his red cloak swirling around him and walked out of the Laboratory.

Donald sent another glare the Doctor's way. "Promise!"

"Alright!" cried Dr. Finkelstein.

Donald turned and followed Cloud outside. Kairi looked over at where Goofy had finished helping Sally clean up the shattered glass. "Are you okay here?" asked Kairi.

Sally nodded hesitantly. Goofy shook her hand and walked past Kairi. Kairi stuck her tongue out at Dr. Finkelstein before turning to leave. Goofy stopped and looked back at her. "Uh, do we know where we're going?" he asked. "Don't we need like a guide or something?"

"Good idea," agreed Kairi. Before she could say anything, Dr. Finkelstein interrupted her.

"You're not taking my Sally, if you're thinking of asking that!"

"Stop being such a jerk!" complained Kairi. She turned and reached out to grab Jack's sleeve. "Jack, could you lead us to where the Heart would be?"

Jack looked surprised for a moment at being addressed and having his thoughts interrupted. He smiled at Kairi. "Of course! I think I know just the place. Did you agree to help the Doctor find the Heart?"

Kairi realized Jack hadn't been paying attention and she threw a glance at the Doctor and Sally. "Something like that…"

"Good show then!" declared Jack. "Let us be on our way then!" The three of them walked out of the Laboratory and joined Donald and Cloud who were waiting outside for them. Kairi pointed to Jack.

"He'll be our guide to the Heart."

"Do you know where it is?" asked Donald.

"I have an idea," replied Jack. "Lock, Shock, and Barrel work for Oogie Boogie. Oogie has a mansion outside of town, past the graveyard. No one goes there and everyone's happy with that arrangement."

"But why would he steal the Heart?" asked Goofy.

Jack shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe Lock, Shock, and Barrel just thought he'd reward them without being asked to bring it. We'll have to ask them to find out."

"Then let's get moving," said Cloud.

"I'll lead the way!" declared Jack, taking several long steps so that he was at the front of the group and leading everyone once more through the town. Kairi hurried forward past her friends and to Jack's side. She had to walk very fast to keep up with him and she had to crane her neck up when talking to him.

"Why weren't you stopping Dr. Finkelstein back there?" asked Kairi, confused. Jack seemed like a friendly person to her, despite how much he seemed to be interested in scaring people. It seemed weird to her that he'd allow the Doctor to be mean to Sally like that.

"Stop what?" asked Jack curiously.

"The Doctor's abuse of Sally!" cried Kairi. "That was wrong of him!"

"He was abusing her?" asked Jack, his face scrunching in concern. "Are you sure?"

"He was!" insisted Kairi. "Treating her like a slave instead of a person. Belittling her. That's not okay! He agreed that if we get the Heart he'll have to be nicer to her."

"I didn't notice…" muttered Jack, his face suddenly becoming serious, his gaze once again becoming distant. His voice suddenly became deep and intimidating. "I'll have to have a chat with the Doctor when we return…"

Before anything else could be said the group found themselves surrounded by Ghost Heartless.

"Hmm, that's strange behavior," commented Jack. One of the Ghosts surged forward towards Jack and swung at him. Kairi leapt at the Ghost, summoning the Keyblade and striking it in midair and destroying it. As Kairi landed that was apparently the signal for the Ghosts to attack and they all surged towards the group. Everyone was immediately on guard and fending off the attacks. Jack deftly dodged a strike from a ghost, a look of surprise on his face. "And that's even stranger!"

"It has to be the Heart," commented Cloud, slashing a ghost in half.

Kairi threw the Keyblade at a Ghost that was trying to attack Donald from behind and ducked under a second. She recalled the Keyblade to her hand and swept up with it, destroying the second Ghost. She looked over at Cloud. "Because the Doctor doesn't have the Heart anymore?"

"Maybe the Heartless listen to it?" said Donald, summoning a ring of fire around himself, destroying two Ghosts that had tried to surround him.

"Maybe because the Doctor just wanted to study the Heart the Heartless did nothing?" wondered Goofy. He twirled around, making several rotations, and then flinging his shield at a Ghost. It hit the Ghost, bouncing off and destroying it, then hitting a second Ghost, destroying that. Whether through skill or fluke the shield bounced off of the second Ghost and into Goofy's hand as he tripped over a third Ghost. As he tumbled to the ground he got his shield up in time to block the Ghost's attack. Cloud swooped in, destroying the Ghost, and helping Goofy up. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," replied Cloud turning away quickly to find another Heartless to destroy.

There were only three Heartless left at this point. Two were circling around Jack, trying to hit the skeletal man. He was dancing easily around their attacks but hadn't struck back yet himself. Instead he still seemed shocked by the Heartless attacking. The third Heartless had separated from the group and was menacing the Mayor who'd had the misfortune of wandering into the Town Square at the wrong time, his arms full of maps, blueprints and other rolled up pieces of paper. He had the paper clutched tightly in his arms as he back up slowly, shaking under the threat of the Heartless.

"Jack!" cried the Mayor. "Help!"

The call drew Jack's attention and his expression hardened as he witnessed the threatened mayor. He gave a scowl. "I am Jack Skellington!" he roared, reaching out and grabbing each of the Heartless circling him by their wispy tails. "I am the Pumpkin King!" He ran forward at a blinding speed, the Heartless being dragged behind him. "And I _will_ be obeyed!" He swung both Heartless at either side of the third Ghost. All three Ghosts were crushed by the force of his blow and destroyed, wisps of darkness disappearing around Jack as he stood tall and menacing. He turned and looked at his stunned friends. "Let us go to Oogie Boogie's and stop this madness!"

Kairi shook away her shock and smiled. "Let's hurry!"

The group left the surprised Mayor in the Town Square and ran through the streets of Halloween Town. As they went they found more Heartless causing mayhem or threatening the Townspeople. They destroyed them quickly as they ran past. With each Heartless they destroyed they ran faster and faster, becoming aware of how bad things were. Kairi quickly threw the Keyblade through a group of Ghosts that had surrounded the witches from before, destroying the Ghosts. Kairi smiled and waved at the witches as she ran past, returning the Keyblade magically to her hand.

The friends ran out of town, through the graveyard and into the outskirts where Oogie Boogie made his home. The increasing amounts of Heartless couldn't stop them. Soon they found themselves at the base of a large mansion that kept sprawling up and up, built on top of itself in a haphazard manner. Jack stopped in front of the mansion, a scowl on his face. "Oogie's," he hissed.

"It's so big…" muttered Kairi.

"Are we going to have to scale the whole thing?" asked Donald, looking daunted by the task. Jack nodded. Cloud shifted his sword in his grip.

"Then we'll just have to get started," he said, studying the mansion. "The faster we get up, the faster we can stop these Heartless."

"Then let's do it!" declared Kairi, gripping the Keyblade in her hand.

The climb was hard, harder than it had been even getting to the mansion. The place was swarmed with Heartless, and more seemed to be appearing every moment. Kairi wondered if they were being drawn to the Heart. If so, that meant they were in the right place. The worst part was the treacherous walkways that connected large sections of the mansion. Shadows covered every inch of the ground while Ghosts and Gargoyles flew through the air. They had to be careful while fighting to not fall off.

Cloud almost lost his footing when swinging his sword around to clear a large group. Jack almost fell when part of the walkway broke out from underneath him, but he managed to grab the edges in time and pull himself back up. Kairi was almost knocked off when she blocked the swooping attack of one of the Gargoyles, getting pushed back by the force of the attack and only stopping right before the edge. Donald had been grabbed by a Gargoyle and lifted into the air but he'd managed to destroy it and land on the walkway, although it was on his butt. After they managed to clear one of the walkways almost completely and were running across it to the next room before the Heartless swarmed again Goofy somehow tripped, although Kairi didn't see anything he could trip on. As he fell he accidentally pushed Donald out of the way of a Gargoyle that came swooping out of nowhere. Kairi destroyed it with a strike raid while Cloud helped their two friends back up.

"Thanks," said Donald, smiling gratefully at Goofy.

Goofy rubbed the back of his head bashfully. "Aw, it's nothing." He smiled at Kairi and Cloud. "Thanks."

"It's what friends do," replied Kairi.

"She's right," said Cloud, nodding. He looked around. "How much longer?"

"I'm not sure," admitted Jack. "No one has ever been to Oogie Boogie's before besides Lock, Shock, and Barrel."

"They might still have the Heart," pointed out Cloud.

"So, either way we need to find them," finished Kairi.

"But where could they be?" pondered Donald.

"Uh guys?" asked Goofy, looking behind the group at something. He pointed with a finger. "How about we try over there?"

Everyone turned and saw what Goofy was pointing at. It was a wooden doorway that had the words "The Playroom" painted on it in sloppy purple writing.

Jack snapped his bony fingers and smiled broadly. "That looks promising!" He started to move towards the door and started to examine it. "Hmmmm…there doesn't seem to be a doorknob or clear way to open this door…"

Kairi walked up next to him and examined the door also, finding the same thing. "So, what do we do then?"

"This," replied Jack, lifting his leg up and kicking the door. The door shook in its frame for a second before gently collapsing away from them and clattering into the now revealed Playroom. Jack gestured inside to the now very shocked friends. "Here we go, our way in."

Kairi smiled at him. "Uh, thanks."

Jack walked into the room, followed by the other four. Inside Kairi saw a torn-up couch with its stuffing coming out in places, a destroyed arcade machine, and creepy or destroyed toys of every variety hanging precariously off shelves on the wall or covering pretty much every inch of the floor. Reclining on the chair and couch were the skeleton masked boy from before, a girl dressed like a witch and another boy dressed in red with spiky horns and a tail, a devil.

Jack crossed his arms in front of him as he glared at them. "Lock, Shock, and Barrel, we've been looking for you trouble makers. Where is the Heart?"

The witch girl looked at Jack, taking off her mask and feigning innocence. "Oh Jack, we don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah!" yelled the devil boy. "You can't prove nothin'!"

Kairi pointed to the skeleton boy. "We saw him escaping from the Doctor's right as the heart was stolen.

The skeleton boy for his part managed to look bashful as his friend glared at him. "whoops…"

"You idiot!" yelled the witch girl, slapping him along the backside of his head, knocking him over.

"Now," repeated Jack. "WHERE IS THE HEART!"

"We don't need to tell you anything!" yelled the devil boy.

"Yeah!" cheered both of his friends.

Jack took a step forward. "Then I'll make you tell us!"

"Try it!" yelled all three costumed children at the same time. That's when all hell broke loose in the small playroom. Magic, weapons, exploding toys and flailing children flew EVERYWHERE. Furniture was shredded, exploded, and destroyed in every imaginable way. A claw machine exploded and toys went flying. They the TOYS started moving, biting, and clawing at Kairi and her friends. She cut a strange snake thing in half, stuffing coming out and kicked a wooden duck trying to bite her into the far wall, shattering it.

Eventually they managed to subdue all three of the children, surrounding them in the Playroom. Jack tried once again. "Now, WHERE IS THE HEART!"

"OOGIE BOOGIE HAS IT!" yelled all three children, utterly terrified of the Skeleton Man. Kairi almost felt sorry for them. Almost.

Kairi looked down at them. "And where is Oogie Boogie?"

"He's through the green door, stated the witch girl. She pointed to a lever on the wall. "You can unlock it with that."

Cloud walked over and pulled the lever down, a clicking sound ringing out. No traps sprung on them so Kairi figured the children had been telling the truth. The kids looked up at them. "Can we leave now, please?" asked the devil boy, acting as politely and sweetly as he could to try to convince them.

Jack frowned at them. "Get out of here and think about what you've done!"

"Thanks Jack!" yelled the children, suddenly energetic again and running out of the room giggling to themselves.

Jack sighed and them looked to his friends, smiling at them. "Now then, shall we get going? We still have a heart to retrieve!"

Kairi nodded. "Let's get it back!"

The friends ran back outside and following a different path from before made it to a green door. Jack pushed it and it opened easily. They'd entered and found themselves in a dark room trying to figure out what to do next. Then the floor had given way beneath them and they'd collapsed several feet and found themselves in their current situation. Dodging scythe blades, bullets from mechanical cowboys, exploding dice and hordes of heartless.

Goofy got caught under a scythe blade but managed to get his shield up, shattering the blades. Cloud leapt across the circular roulette board and, ducking under bullets, chopped all the mechanical cowboys in half. Donald intercepted the dice in midair as Oogie Boogie threw them at the group, exploding them at a safe distance. Kairi knocked Heartless after Heartless away from her friends, protecting them as they dealt with the other hazards. She cocked back her arm and threw her Keyblade, light glowing around it, so that it arced around the whole room back to her hand, destroying dozens of heartless. She breathed heavily, drained of magic, but happy to see that almost all the dangers and enemies had been dealt with.

Meanwhile Jack was dodging bullets, snapping off a scythe blade and using it to bat dice into groups of Heartless where they'd explode. Throwing away the scythe blade he made it to Oogie Boogie, facing down the sack man.

Oogie took a step back from Jack. "Stay away!" he yelled. Jack took a step forward and Oogie lunged at him, trying to clumsily punch at him. Jack dodged easily and lashed out with a sidekick, hitting Oogie directly in the gut and sending him flying to smash into the wall.

Jack stalked towards his foe. "It's over Oogie. Surrender the Heart."

Oogie look up from the floor at Jack. "Oh, do you mean, THIS Heart?" asked Oogie, pulling the Heart out from…somewhere… He flashed it in front of Jack. "How about…NO!" With that declaration he ATE the Heart, laughing as he did so. "Hahahahaha!"

Jack reached out and grabbed Oogie by his collar. "You monster! Give it back!"

Oogie continued to laugh manically. "Sor-ry! Can't do Jack. The heart is mine, and so are the Heartless!"

As everyone tried to figure out what to do, Kairi noticed something strange about Oogie. His body seemed to be shifting slightly, a dark aura appearing around him. Jack didn't seem to notice as the aura got stronger and stronger. "Jack! Let go!" yelled Kairi in a panic.

Jack finally noticed the aura and let go, backing away from Oogie. He did so just in time as Oogie just _exploded_ in a wave of dark energy, destroying the room, and sending everyone flying out of the building. Cloud managed to cover himself in energy and float down slowly, catching Goofy as he did so. Donald was saved by Jack who did a similar technique. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be anyone to help Kairi or Pluto as they started to plummet at a great height towards the ground.

"Pluto!" yelled Kairi, looking at the poor dog falling next to her. Her mind flashed back to the witches from town flying around on their brooms. _"Impressive, but can you fly with it?"_ they'd asked. They'd promised to teach her, but she needed to know how to do so now. _Come on…_ thought Kairi. _I need to save Pluto…I need to save myself…I need to fly...NOW!_

The Keyblade started to glow in her grip and the wind started to whip at her clothes as she started to slow down. Realizing what was happening Kairi reached out with her free hand, wrapping in around Pluto and closing her eyes and just concentrating on flying. _I need to fly. I CAN fly…_

And as she thought it, suddenly her fall was halted and she felt the strain of her weight against her arm. Opening her eyes, she looked up and saw the Keyblade floating in midair, holding up both her and Pluto. She smiled in joy at the sight, happiness flooding her. The strain soon overrode it due to her awkward positioning and holding up Pluto. She willed the Keyblade to lower them gently to the ground and she landed next to everyone else. Goofy looked at her, scratching his head.

"I didn't know you could do that."

Kairi smiled, "Neither did I," she replied.

'It's good that you can fly," stated Cloud, "but what are we going to do about THAT?" He pointed and everyone turned to see Oogie's gigantic house _moving_ towards them. Its shape had changed, fusing with Oogie in a strange parody combination of Oogie and his home, dark purple orbs looking like angry sores ready to burst dotting his surface.

Jack grimaced. "We defeat him and reclaim the Heart."

"But how are we going to do that?" asked Kairi, digging a hand into Pluto's fur.

"Those orbs look important…" mused Jiminy.

"Maybe we should destroy them?" asked Goofy.

"Seems worth a shot," replied Cloud, gripping his sword in preparation to fight."

"We each surround him and take an orb?" asked Kairi.

"Sounds like a plan," grinned Donald. "Let's get him!"

They scattered, Pluto staying behind at a safe distance with Jiminy sitting on his head. Cloud and Jack went one way, Goofy and Donald went the other. Kairi ran straight towards the monster house. She closed her eyes, once again concentrating on summoning her magic. She opened her eyes, throwing the Keyblade in front of her, releasing her magic and _jumping_ onto the Keyblade. Instead of falling embarrassingly onto the floor she flew into the air, riding the Keyblade like the witches had been riding their brooms. The handle portion was behind her, the teeth in front. She gripped the front portion tightly with her hands, leaned forward and pulled _up_.

She went flying upwards at an amazing pace. A large lantern swung at her as she approached the monster house but she managed to dodge to the side, keeping on the Keyblade. Flying Heartless buzzed around her but she ignored them, instead focused on the large purple orb at the very top of Oogie's face like a pimple.

Below her, Donald, Goofy, Cloud and Jack were fending off Heartless and destroying the orbs they could reach with magic or weapons. The orbs ruptured explosively, Oogie's whole form shaking violently every time one was destroyed. Soon, the only orb was left was the one Kairi was aiming for. Driven by some desire to protect Oogie, the Heartless all started to converge on Kairi as she struggled to get up to the orb. Soon she was surrounded. Still unsure how to fight while flying on her weapon, she tried to find a way out.

Lightning, ice, fire and Goofy's shield all flew past her, annihilating the Heartless around her. She looked down and saw her friends shouting up at her, encouraging her onward. Kairi smiled down at them and waved quickly in thanks before gripping the Keyblade once more and _shot_ up towards the orb. She flew past the dark orb and reached beneath herself. She pulled the Keyblade out from underneath her in her backhanded style and started to fall towards the orb. She pumped light magic into the Keyblade and _threw_ it at the orb. The Light Raid flew through the orb, destroying it and continuing onward through the rest of Oogie Boogie's body. With the last of the dark orbs powering him gone his body just fell apart, shattering and splintering into splinters and tattered cloth.

Kairi pumped her fist triumphantly before remembering that she was still _high up in the air_. She frantically reached out and summoned the Keyblade to her hand. As she was about to summon her magic to try to glide down the Keyblade glowed blue, just like the ground beneath her. Realizing what was happening Kairi pointed the Keyblade at the Keyhole that appeared below her, firing a beam of light that went into it, a loud clicking noise signifying that the World's Keyhole was now locked from the Heartless. With that done, she used the last of her magic reserves to use her newly acquired flying skill to glide down to the ground.

She didn't manage the most graceful landing, but she didn't care as she looked up and saw herself surrounded by the smiling friends. She saw the Heart held in Jack's hand and knew that they'd succeeded at everything they'd set out to do. She felt like she was finally getting a handle on being the Keyblade's chosen bearer. It felt good.

* * *

Riku walked through the large, dark halls of Hallow Bastion. Around him he saw the tubes containing the six Princesses of Light that had been captured and put into stasis. Soon, soon he'd be able to make all his dreams come true. Maleficent would help him do so. He didn't trust her, but knew that their goals lined up. She'd allow him to travel wherever he wanted and control the Heartless and in return he'd get her into this "Kingdom Hearts" that she was always going on about.

She would also be able to help him achieve his other goal. He now knew where Kairi was due to her help, although he was angry that she'd stopped looking for either him or Sora and instead made new friends. What type of friend _was_ she? Well, he hadn't forgotten his priorities. He stopped walking as he arrived at a form that lay slumped against a piece of copper machinery at the end of the hall.

"Sora…" whispered Riku. Here he was, his best friend, his heart stolen on accident by the Heartless while they'd been trying to leave Destiny Islands. Riku felt guilt over that. So, he'd sworn to help Maleficent so that she'd help him restore Sora's heart. With Kingdom Hearts they could do that. Sora was the most important person to him and he wouldn't let _anyone_ get in his way. Not the Heartless, not Maleficent, not even Kairi…

* * *

Tifa stood up once more, brushing off the dirt from her pants. Hercules smiled at her, pointing at the point in his armor that she'd managed to hit right before he'd knocked her away.

"Good hit," complimented Hercules. "you're getting better."

"Thanks," replied Tifa, walking over to her sparring partner. "Do you think I'll be ready for the next tournament?"

"I think-" started Hercules before the doors to the Coliseum were thrown open and a small pink form ran across the arena towards them.

"Hercules!" yelled the girl Tifa realized was running towards them. "We're back!"

"Kairi!" exclaimed Hercules, a broad smile forming across his face.

"Kairi?" asked Tifa, "do you mean _that_ Kairi?" As she asked the question she looked past the newcomer and saw several other people entering after her. Her eyes fell on a particularly spiky haired blonde man. He was older, larger, with unusual clothes, but Tifa would recognize him from anywhere. She walked towards him. "Cloud?"

Cloud looked up at her and she saw familiar blue eyes, but with a pain she didn't remember being there. His gaze fell on her and surprise appeared on his face. "Tifa?" he muttered. Then he grimaced as if in extreme pain, his hand moving to grip the side of his head.

"Cloud?" asked the dog man standing next to him? "Are you okay?"

As the question was asked Coud winced once more then fell over.

"Cloud!" yelled Tifa, running to his side.


End file.
